title: Ultrafast photoacoustic imaging and its application to real-time 3D imaging with improved focusing.
abstract: The restricted temporal resolution ofphotoacoustic imaging due to limited frame rates often prohibits its applications in areas such as real-time 3D imaging. This paper presents an ultrasound/photoacoustic multimodality imaging system that provides an ultrafast frame rate and consists of an ultrasound transducer array with plane wave excitation and a laser with pulse repetition frequency up to 2000 Hz. Its application to real-time 3D photoacoustic imaging is demonstrated and a synthetic-aperture focusing technique is applied to improve the elevational focusing quality of the mechanically-scanned 1D array. A 3D frame rate of 12 Hz in a volume covering a 19.2 mm x 19.2 mm scanning surface is demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Hsin
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Pai-Chi
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D007834:Lasers; D014159:Transducers; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*