What is the relationship between spatial pulse length and pulse duration?

Spatial pulse length and pulse duration are directly related because they both describe characteristics of an ultrasound pulse, albeit from different perspectives.

Spatial pulse length refers to the physical length of the pulse in space and is determined by the number of cycles in the pulse and the wavelength. Pulse duration, on the other hand, is the time duration of the entire pulse, which is influenced by the frequency of the sound waves and the number of cycles present in the pulse.

When there are more cycles in a pulse, the spatial pulse length increases due to the added wavelengths, while pulse duration also increases since it takes longer for the sound waves to complete all cycles. Likewise, if the wavelength (which is inversely related to frequency) decreases with an increase in frequency, the spatial length will decrease as there are shorter cycles packed into the same temporal pulse duration.

Both measurements reflect the characteristics and behavior of the ultrasound wave, establishing a direct relationship where changes in one often lead to proportional changes in the other within the context of a given frequency. Thus, understanding that both spatial pulse length and pulse duration are affected by the same wave parameters clarifies the direct relationship between the two.