7/14/2016

AttenuationWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Attenuation
FromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Inphysics,attenuation(insomecontextsalsocalledextinction)isthegraduallossinintensityofanykindofflux
throughamedium.Forinstance,darkglassesattenuatesunlight,leadattenuatesXrays,andwaterattenuatesboth
lightandsound.
Inelectricalengineeringandtelecommunications,attenuationaffectsthepropagationofwavesandsignalsin
electricalcircuits,inopticalfibers,andinair(radiowaves).Electricalattenuatorsandopticalattenuatorsare
commonmanufacturedcomponentsinthisfield.

Contents
1 Background
2 Ultrasound
2.1 Attenuationcoefficient
3 Lightattenuationinwater
4 Earthquake
5 Electromagnetic
5.1 Radiography
5.2 Optics
5.2.1 Lightscattering
5.2.2 UVVisIRabsorption
5.3 Applications
5.4 Radio
6 Seealso
7 References
8 Externallinks

Background
Inmanycases,attenuationisanexponentialfunctionofthepathlength
throughthemedium.Inchemicalspectroscopy,thisisknownastheBeer
Lambertlaw.Inengineering,attenuationisusuallymeasuredinunitsof
decibelsperunitlengthofmedium(dB/cm,dB/km,etc.)andisrepresented
bytheattenuationcoefficientofthemediuminquestion.[1]Attenuationalso
occursinearthquakeswhentheseismicwavesmovefartherawayfromthe
epicenter,theygrowsmallerastheyareattenuatedbytheground.

Ultrasound

Frequencydependentattenuationof
electromagneticradiationinstandard
atmosphere.

Oneareaofresearchinwhichattenuationfiguresstronglyisinultrasound
physics.Attenuationinultrasoundisthereductioninamplitudeofthe
ultrasoundbeamasafunctionofdistancethroughtheimagingmedium.Accountingforattenuationeffectsin
ultrasoundisimportantbecauseareducedsignalamplitudecanaffectthequalityoftheimageproduced.By
knowingtheattenuationthatanultrasoundbeamexperiencestravelingthroughamedium,onecanadjusttheinput
signalamplitudetocompensateforanylossofenergyatthedesiredimagingdepth.[2]
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AttenuationWikipedia,thefreeencyclopedia

Ultrasoundattenuationmeasurementinheterogeneoussystems,likeemulsionsorcolloids,yields
informationonparticlesizedistribution.ThereisanISOstandardonthistechnique.[3]
Ultrasoundattenuationcanbeusedforextensionalrheologymeasurement.Thereareacousticrheometers
thatemployStokes'lawformeasuringextensionalviscosityandvolumeviscosity.
Waveequationswhichtakeacousticattenuationintoaccountcanbewrittenonafractionalderivativeform,seethe
articleonacousticattenuationore.g.thesurveypaper.[4]

Attenuationcoefficient
Attenuationcoefficientsareusedtoquantifydifferentmediaaccordingtohowstronglythetransmittedultrasound
amplitudedecreasesasafunctionoffrequency.Theattenuationcoefficient( )canbeusedtodeterminetotal
attenuationindBinthemediumusingthefollowingformula:

Asthisequationshows,besidesthemediumlengthandattenuationcoefficient,attenuationisalsolinearly
dependentonthefrequencyoftheincidentultrasoundbeam.Attenuationcoefficientsvarywidelyfordifferent
media.Inbiomedicalultrasoundimaginghowever,biologicalmaterialsandwaterarethemostcommonlyused
media.Theattenuationcoefficientsofcommonbiologicalmaterialsatafrequencyof1MHzarelistedbelow:[5]
Material
Air

1.64(20C)[6]

Blood

0.2

Bone,cortical

6.9

Bone,trabecular

9.94

Brain

0.6

Breast

0.75

Cardiac

0.52

Connectivetissue

1.57

Dentin

80

Enamel

120

Fat

0.48

Liver

0.5

Marrow

0.5

Muscle

1.09

Tendon

4.7

Softtissue(average) 0.54
Water

0.0022

Therearetwogeneralwaysofacousticenergylosses:absorptionandscattering,forinstancelightscattering.[7]
Ultrasoundpropagationthroughhomogeneousmediaisassociatedonlywithabsorptionandcanbecharacterized
withabsorptioncoefficientonly.Propagationthroughheterogeneousmediarequirestakingintoaccount
scattering.[8]Fractionalderivativewaveequationscanbeappliedformodelingoflossyacousticalwave
propagation,seealsoacousticattenuationandRef.[4]
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