Optimisation of all-optical rotational ultrasound imaging using acoustic simulations

Abstract

All-optical ultrasound is emerging as an imaging modality well-suited to use in minimally invasive surgical procedures. With this paradigm, ultrasound is both generated and received using light. Recent studies have demonstrated intraluminal ultrasound imaging using a fibre optic device. In this work acoustic simulations were carried out for optimisation of device design. Two device setups were considered; a separate optical fibre for the ultrasound transmitter and receiver and an ultrasound transmitter and receiver combined on a single optical fibre. The image resolution and signal-to-noise ratio were used to evaluate the simulated devices and two parameters were studied, the separation between the transmitter and receiver for the two-fibre device, and the transmitter element size for both device setups. The results demonstrated how device dimensions affect the resulting imaging performance and show the efficacy of using simple acoustic simulations to inform all-optical ultrasound transducer design.