In medical imaging different techniques have been developed to gain information from inside a tissue. Optoacoustics is a method to generate tomography pictures of tissue using Q-switched laser pulses. Due to thermal and pressure confinement, a short light pulse generates a pressure distribution inside tissue, which mirrors absorbing structures and can be measured outside the tissue. Using a temporal back-projection method, the pressure distribution measured on the tissue surface allows us to gain a tomography picture of the absorbing structures inside tissue. This study presents a novel computational algorithm, which, at least in principle, yields an exact reconstruction of the absorbing structures in three-dimensional space inside the tissue. The reconstruction is based on 2D pressure distributions captured outside at different delay times. The algorithm is tested in a simulation and back-projection of pressure transients of a small absorber and a single point source.

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Planar optical waveguides consisting of thin dielectric films with metal cladding have been investigated theoretically and experimentally. A computer program was devised to provide the phase and attenuation constants and wavefunctions for TE and TM modes in symmetric and asymmetric guides. Approximate expressions suitable for slide-rule calculation were also derived. Numerical results and illustrations are given for films of photoresist with Al, Ag, and Au cladding. Direct measurements of the attenuation and phase constants at 0.633 microm of numerous experimental waveguides are in reasonable agreement with theory. Attenuations <1 dB/cm, which is sufficiently small for application in devices, were measured. Calculated wavefunctions illustrate the mismatch of modes at transitions between unclad and metal-clad waveguides. Experimentally, we find substantial losses at such abrupt junctions. They can be overcome by simple tapered transitions.