Nonlinear contrast enhancement in photoacoustic molecular imaging with gold nanosphere encapsulated nanoemulsions
- Departments of Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering, and Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (United States)
A composite contrast agent, a nanoemulsion bead with assembled gold nanospheres at the interface, is proposed to improve the specific contrast of photoacoustic molecular imaging. A phase transition in the bead's core is induced by absorption of a nanosecond laser pulse with a fairly low laser fluence (∼3.5 mJ/cm{sup 2}), creating a transient microbubble through dramatically enhanced thermal expansion. This generates nonlinear photoacoustic signals with more than 10 times larger amplitude compared to that of a linear agent with the same optical absorption. By applying a differential scheme similar to ultrasound pulse inversion, more than 40 dB contrast enhancement is demonstrated with suppression of background signals.
- OSTI ID:
- 22280630
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 3; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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