Applications:
Photoacoustic imaging (also called optoacoustic or thermoacoustic imaging) has the potential to image animal or human organs with simultaneous high contrast and high spatial resolution. The photoacoustic signal is small and needs a mechanism to focus it on an image plane without degradation. This technology improves the signal to noise ratio in medical photoacoustic imaging in order to achieve high resolution images.
Advantages:
This technology is particularly applicable to imaging various soft tissues such as prostate and breast. Photoacoustic impulses generated using a pulsed laser are captured with a special acoustic lens of variable focal length and magnification. The system can operate in a liquid environment that is aberration-corrected to a sufficient degree that high resolution images can be obtained with lateral as well as depth resolution.