title: Noncontact photoacoustic imaging achieved by using a low-coherence interferometer as the acoustic detector.
abstract: We report on a noncontact photoacoustic imaging (PAI) technique in which a low-coherence interferometer [(LCI), optical coherence tomography (OCT) hardware] is utilized as the acoustic detector. A synchronization approach is used to lock the LCI system at its highly sensitive region for photoacoustic detection. The technique is experimentally verified by the imaging of a scattering phantom embedded with hairs and the blood vessels within a mouse ear in vitro. The system's axial and lateral resolutions are evaluated at 60 and 30 μm, respectively. The experimental results indicate that PAI in a noncontact detection mode is possible with high resolution and high bandwidth. The proposed approach lends itself to a natural integration of PAI with OCT, rather than a combination of two separate and independent systems.
authors: Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
authors: Yi
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Chunhui
authors: C
authors: Li
authors: Ruikang K
authors: RK
authors: Wang
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D007368:Interferometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods