PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an ultrasonic probe and an ultrasonic imaging apparatus having a piezoelectric element plate with a wide frequency band and being stably manufactured.SOLUTION: The piezoelectric element plate 70 consists of a curved plate section 79 and a laminated plate section 78 to be fitted to the curved face of the curved plate section 79, the laminated plate section 78 is surrounded with a first electrode section 73 and a second electrode section 74 to prevent vibrations from being excited by an electric signal, both of vibration modes 1b-3b, or forced vibrations by only an electric signal of the curved plate section 79 and vibration modes 1a-3a of standing wave between two parallel end faces of the piezoelectric element plate 70 are generated, so that an ultrasonic wave incident on a subject 2 has a wide band and a short duration, and an acoustic matching layer 72 and an acoustic absorbing material 71 are easily mounted on the two parallel end faces of the piezoelectric element plate 70. Thereby, this ultrasonic probe has a wide frequency band, is easily manufactured and has high reliability.COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT【課題】周波数帯域の広い圧電素子板を有し、しかも安定して製造することができる超音波探触子および超音波撮像装置を実現する。【解決手段】圧電素子板70を、湾曲板部79およびこの湾曲板部79の湾曲面に嵌め合わされる積層板部78からなるものとし、また積層板部78を、第1の電極部73および第2の電極部74で囲み、電気信号により振動が励起されるのを防止し、湾曲板部79のみの電気信号による強制振動の振動モード1b~3bおよび圧電素子板70の平行する2つの端面間の定在波の振動モード1a~3aを共に発生させ、被検体2に入射される超音波を広帯域で持続時間が短いものとし、かつ圧電素子板70の平行する2つの端面に容易に音響整合層72および音響吸収材71を装着し、ひいては超音波探触子を、周波数帯域が広く、かつ製作が容易で信頼性の高いものとすることを実現する。【選択図】図4
