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Title: Non-contact optoacoustic imaging with focused air-coupled transducers

Journal Article · · Applied Physics Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4928123· OSTI ID:22489046
 [1]; ;  [1];  [2]
  1. Institute for Biological and Medical Imaging (IBMI), Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg (Germany)
  2. CSIC, Institute of Physics and Communication Technologies, Madrid (Spain)

Non-contact optoacoustic imaging employing raster-scanning of a spherically focused air-coupled ultrasound transducer is showcased herein. Optoacoustic excitation with laser fluence within the maximal permissible human exposure limits in the visible and near-infrared spectra is applied to objects with characteristic dimensions smaller than 1 mm and absorption properties representative of the whole blood at near-infrared wavelengths, and these signals are shown to be detectable without contact to the sample using an air-coupled transducer with reasonable signal averaging. Optoacoustic images of vessel-mimicking tubes embedded in an agar phantom captured with this non-contact sensing technique are also showcased. These initial results indicate that an air-coupled ultrasound detection approach can be suitable for non-contact biomedical imaging with optoacoustics.

OSTI ID:
22489046
Journal Information:
Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English