Non-contact photoacoustic imaging using a fiber based interferometer with optical amplification

Hochreiner, Armin; Bauer-Marschallinger, Johannes; Burgholzer, Peter; Jakoby, Bernhard; Berer, Thomas

doi:10.1364/boe.4.002322

Cited by 79 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…[46][47][48][49]51,61,63 This system uses air as a coupling medium and, thus, can be used to image samples that cannot normally be imaged using PAM, such as samples that would be altered or destroyed through contact with fluids, including powders or water-soluble dyes. There are other noncontact techniques based on optical interferometers such as Mach-Zehnder interferometer, 57,58 low-coherence Michelson interferometer, 59 and Fabry-Perot interferometer. 61,63 These systems are typically complex, expensive, and difficult to integrate with another system.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[54][55][56] Other noncontact PA systems based on the interferometric principle have been developed. [57][58][59][60][61] However, interferometric techniques were complex, bulky, expensive, and difficult to integrate with the existing optical microscopes. 57,62 A Fabry-Perot sensor is another option, but it is still a contact technique as the Fabry-Perot sensor has to be placed in contact with the sample.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Low-power noncontact photoacoustic microscope for bioimaging applications

2017

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Abstract. An inexpensive noncontact photoacoustic (PA) imaging system using a low-power continuous wave laser and a kilohertz-range microphone has been developed. The system operates in both optical and PA imaging modes and is designed to be compatible with conventional optical microscopes. Aqueous coupling fluids are not required for the detection of the PA signals; air is used as the coupling medium. The main component of the PA system is a custom designed PA imaging sensor that consists of an air-filled sample chamber and a resonator chamber that isolates a standard kilohertz frequency microphone from the input laser. A sample to be examined is placed on the glass substrate inside the chamber. A laser focused to a small spot by a 40× objective onto the substrate enables generation of PA signals from the sample. Raster scanning the laser over the sample with micrometer-sized steps enables high-resolution PA images to be generated. A lateral resolution of 1.37 μm was achieved in this proof of concept study, which can be further improved using a higher numerical aperture objective. The application of the system was investigated on a red blood cell, with a noiseequivalent detection sensitivity of 43,887 hemoglobin molecules (72.88 × 10 −21 mol or 72.88 zeptomol). The minimum pressure detectable limit of the system was 19.1 μPa. This inexpensive, compact noncontact PA sensor is easily integrated with existing commercial optical microscopes, enabling optical and PA imaging of the same sample. Applications include forensic measurements, blood coagulation tests, and monitoring the penetration of drugs into human membrane.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-power noncontact photoacoustic microscope for bioimaging applications

2017

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“…A detailed presentation and discussion of the setup can be found in Ref. 26. In brief, a low-bandwidth cw-detection laser (Koheras AdjustiK) with a wavelength of approximately 1550 nm and a maximum output power of 25 mW is coupled into a single-mode optical fiber.…”

Section: Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, we demonstrated ncPAI using a fiber-based interferometer. 26 The realization of the detection optics in a fiber-optic network allows straightforward extension with OCT. The present paper is dedicated to this combination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multimodal noncontact photoacoustic and optical coherence tomography imaging using wavelength-division multiplexing

et al. 2015

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Abstract. We present multimodal noncontact photoacoustic (PA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. PA signals are acquired remotely on the surface of a specimen with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. The interferometer is realized in a fiber-optic network using a fiber laser at 1550 nm as the source. In the same fiber-optic network, a spectral-domain OCT system is implemented. The OCT system utilizes a supercontinuum light source at 1310 nm and a spectrometer with an InGaAs line array detector. Light from the fiber laser and the OCT source is multiplexed into one fiber using a wavelength-division multiplexer; the same objective is used for both imaging modalities. Reflected light is spectrally demultiplexed and guided to the respective imaging systems. We demonstrate two-dimensional and three-dimensional imaging on a tissue-mimicking sample and a chicken skin phantom. The same fiber network and same optical components are used for PA and OCT imaging, and the obtained images are intrinsically coregistered.

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“…For instance, a polyvinylidene (PVDF) needle hydrophone with a diameter of 75 μ m presents much lower sensitivity than that with ordinary size, with a noise-equivalent pressure (NEP) of 6 kPa over 100 MHz 12 . In recent years, a number of photonic ultrasound sensors have been developed with outstanding sensitivity, broad bandwidth and compact size [13][14][15] , optical transparency, and even possibility for non-contact measurement [16][17][18] . Photonic ultrasound sensors usually employ high-finesse optical resonators to detect incident elastic waves.…”

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confidence: 99%

Fiber laser based ultrasound sensor for photoacoustic imaging

Liang

Wang

Jin

et al. 2017

2017 IEEE 17th International Conference on Nanotechnology (IEEE-NANO)

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Photoacoustic imaging, especially for intravascular and endoscopic applications, requires ultrasound probes with miniature size and high sensitivity. In this paper, we present a new photoacoustic sensor based on a small-sized fiber laser. Incident ultrasound waves exert pressures on the optical fiber laser and induce harmonic vibrations of the fiber, which is detected by the frequency shift of the beating signal between the two orthogonal polarization modes in the fiber laser. This ultrasound sensor presents a noise-equivalent pressure of 40 Pa over a 50-MHz bandwidth. We demonstrate this new ultrasound sensor on an optical-resolution photoacoustic microscope. The axial and lateral resolutions are 48 μm and 3.3 μm. The field of view is up to 1.57 mm 2 . The sensor exhibits strong resistance to environmental perturbations, such as temperature changes, due to common-mode cancellation between the two orthogonal modes. The present fiber laser ultrasound sensor offers a new tool for alloptical photoacoustic imaging.Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is a phenomenally growing imaging technology which offers high-contrast, high-resolution and non-invasive imaging in deep tissue 1,2 . PAT has received great interests due to promising applications in disease diagnoses and life science researches [3][4][5][6][7] . PAT detects optically induced ultrasound signals to form three-dimensional images [8][9][10] . Further development of PAT demands high-performance ultrasound sensors with high sensitivity, small size, broad bandwidth and great stability. Specifically, intravascular and endoscopic photoacoustic imaging requires ultrasound probes with miniature sizes and high sensitivity 11 . However, piezoelectric detectors are limited by the tradeoff between sensor size and sensitivity. For instance, a polyvinylidene (PVDF) needle hydrophone with a diameter of 75 μ m presents much lower sensitivity than that with ordinary size, with a noise-equivalent pressure (NEP) of 6 kPa over 100 MHz 12 . In recent years, a number of photonic ultrasound sensors have been developed with outstanding sensitivity, broad bandwidth and compact size [13][14][15] , optical transparency, and even possibility for non-contact measurement [16][17][18] . Photonic ultrasound sensors usually employ high-finesse optical resonators to detect incident elastic waves. For instance, a polymer micro-ring resonator (60 μ m in diameter) has presented 105 Pa NEP over a bandwidth of 350 MHz 19,20 . Ultrasound transducers based on planar Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity have reached a NEP of 210 Pa over 20 MHz bandwidth 21 . A reflection-mode PAM system using FP etalons for optical ultrasound detection has been developed 22,23 , which has achieved a NEP of 80 Pa and bandwidth of 18 MHz. The high sensitivity, however, raises its susceptibility to environmental disturbances. Complicated stabilization strategies have to be employed to enhance the resistance to external perturbations.Advanced fiber laser techniques have been developed for optical communication, sensing, measurement, ...

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Non-contact photoacoustic imaging using a fiber based interferometer with optical amplification

Cited by 79 publications

References 23 publications

Low-power noncontact photoacoustic microscope for bioimaging applications

Low-power noncontact photoacoustic microscope for bioimaging applications

Multimodal noncontact photoacoustic and optical coherence tomography imaging using wavelength-division multiplexing

Fiber laser based ultrasound sensor for photoacoustic imaging

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