title: High resolution three-dimensional photoacoutic tomography with CCD-camera based ultrasound detection.
abstract: A photoacoustic tomograph based on optical ultrasound detection is demonstrated, which is capable of high resolution real-time projection imaging and fast three-dimensional (3D) imaging. Snapshots of the pressure field outside the imaged object are taken at defined delay times after photoacoustic excitation by use of a charge coupled device (CCD) camera in combination with an optical phase contrast method. From the obtained wave patterns photoacoustic projection images are reconstructed using a back propagation Fourier domain reconstruction algorithm. Applying the inverse Radon transform to a set of projections recorded over a half rotation of the sample provides 3D photoacoustic tomography images in less than one minute with a resolution below 100 µm. The sensitivity of the device was experimentally determined to be 5.1 kPa over a projection length of 1 mm. In vivo images of the vasculature of a mouse demonstrate the potential of the developed method for biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nuster
authors.affiliation: Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Experimental and Clinical Traumatology, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Slezak
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Guenther
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Paltauf
keywords: (110.0110) Imaging systems; (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging; (170.5120) Photoacoustic imaging; (170.6960) Tomography