20 to emit ultrasound waves with the same phase and level relationships as a result a transmitted beam of ultrasound energy is formed in a subject within a scan plane along a scan line when the transducer array 20 is acoustically coupled to the subject by using for example ultrasound gel the process is known as electronic scanning the transducer array 20 is a two way transducer once ultrasound waves are transmitted into a subject the ultrasound waves are backscattered off of tissue and blood samples within the structure the backscattered waves arrive at the transducer array 20 at different times depending on the distance into the tissue they return from and the angle with respect to the surface of the transducer array 20 at which they return the transducer elements 25 of the transducer array 20 are responsive to the backscattered waves and convert the ultrasound energy from the backscattered waves into received electrical signals the received electrical signals are routed through the t r switching circuitry 30 to the receiver 50 the receiver 50 amplifies and digitizes the received signals and provides other functions such as gain compensation the digitized received signals correspond to the backscattered waves received by each transducer element 25 at various times and preserve the amplitude and phase information of the backscattered waves the digitized received signals are.