Portable real-time photoacoustic microscopy

Abstract

To make a photoacoustic microscope (PAM) suitable for clinical applications, we have developed a portable PAM system with high frame rate. The probe for this portable PAM system is a small hand-held unit, which is connected with the rest of the system with an optical fiber and electrical cables. The probe can be maneuvered easily and pressed against the region of interest at various anatomical sites. By employing a tunable laser with a repetition rate up to 1 kHz, this portable PAM system has reduced its acquisition time to less than one second for each cross-sectional image. We have applied this system to animals as well as humans to acquire cross-sectional images with a maximum imaging depth of 5 mm, a lateral resolution of better than 100 µm, and an axial resolution of 35 µm.

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