Validity of a modified Born approximation for a pulsed plane wave in acoustic scattering problems.

The validity domain of a modified Born approximation (MBA) has been examined for the scattering of a pulsed plane wave (PPW). This new approximation has been compared with exact results and also with the conventional Born approximation (BA). Comparisons have been made for the scattering by a homogeneous sphere. Error charts have been presented for various scatterer sizes and acoustic properties for forward as well as back scattering. The pulse width has also been varied. Our study shows that the modified Born approximation is generally preferable to the conventional Born approximation in the forward direction. In the backward direction both approximations have a similar kind of validity domain. These observations are important in view of the fact that the Born approximation has been widely used in acoustic scattering problems.