title: Handheld photoacoustic tomography probe built using optical-fiber parallel acoustic delay lines.
abstract: The development of the first miniaturized parallel acoustic delay line (PADL) probe for handheld photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is reported. Using fused-silica optical fibers with low acoustic attenuation, we constructed two arrays of eight PADLs. Precision laser micromachining was conducted to produce robust and accurate mechanical support and alignment structures for the PADLs, with minimal acoustic distortion and interchannel coupling. The 16 optical-fiber PADLs, each with a different time delay, were arranged to form one input port and two output ports. A handheld PADL probe was constructed using two single-element transducers and two data acquisition channels (equal to a channel reduction ratio of 8∶1). Photoacoustic (PA) images of a black-ink target embedded in an optically scattering phantom were successfully acquired. After traveling through the PADLs, the eight channels of differently time-delayed PA signals reached each single-element ultrasonic transducer in a designated nonoverlapping time series, allowing clear signal separation for PA image reconstruction. Our results show that the PADL technique and the handheld probe can potentially enable real-time PAT, while significantly reducing the complexity and cost of the ultrasound receiver system.
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College Station, Texas 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Young
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College Station, Texas 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Cheng-Chung
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, Department of Bioengineering, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States.
authors.forename: Jaesok
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Pohang University of Science and Technology, Department of Creative IT Engineering, Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Mansik
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.affiliation: Pohang University of Science and Technology, Department of Creative IT Engineering, Pohang 790-784, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chulhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Washington University in St. Louis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, United States.
authors.forename: Lihong V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Texas A&M University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College Station, Texas 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zou
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D054459:Elasticity Imaging Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D008904:Miniaturization; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D061088:Photoacoustic Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D041622:Tomography, Optical / Q000295:instrumentation*
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