Patent ID: 8793079

Claim:
A method for measurement or imaging of nonlinear interaction scattering between two waves along at least one measurement or image curve Γ(r) in a material object with nonlinear material parameters that produce wave scattering, comprising the steps of: a) transmitting in at least one transmit event i) at least one 1 st transmit pulsed wave with a 1 st transmit time and a 1 st transmit center frequency along a 1 st transmit beam with a 1st transmit direction, and ii) at least one 2 nd transmit pulsed wave with a 2 nd transmit time and a 2 nd center frequency along a 2 nd transmit beam with a 2 nd transmit direction, wherein the 2 nd transmit direction is substantially different from the 1 st transmit direction, and where the 1 st and 2 nd transmit directions and 1 st and 2 nd transmit times are arranged so that the pulses from the 1 st and 2 nd pulsed waves overlap in space in an overlap region R(r,t) that propagates with time in the material object along a measurement or image curve Γ(r), and b) selecting one or both of i) the time relation between said 1 st and 2 nd transmit times, and ii) at least one of said 1 st and 2 nd transmit directions, to control the location of the measurement or image curve Γ(r) within the material object, and c) detecting a wave scattered from the overlap region R(r,t) with at least one receiver and generating at least one receive signal that includes at least nonlinear interaction scattered signal components that relate to waves that are scattered from the nonlinear interaction between said 1 st and 2 nd pulsed waves in said overlap region R(r,t), and d) processing the receive signal to extract the nonlinear interaction scattered signal components and to form nonlinear interaction measurement or image signals along said measurement or image curve Γ(r).