Frequency domain photothermoacoustic signal amplitude dependence on the optical properties of water: turbid polyvinyl chloride-plastisol system.

Photoacoustic (more precisely, photothermoacoustic) signals generated by the absorption of photons can be related to the incident laser fluence rate. The dependence of frequency domain photoacoustic (FD-PA) signals on the optical absorption coefficient (micro(a)) and the effective attenuation coefficient (micro(eff)) of a turbid medium [polyvinyl chloride-plastisol (PVCP)] with tissuelike optical properties was measured, and empirical relationships between these optical properties and the photoacoustic (PA) signal amplitude and the laser fluence rate were derived for the water (PVCP system with and without optical scatterers). The measured relationships between these sample optical properties and the PA signal amplitude were found to be linear, consistent with FD-PA theory: micro(a)=a(A/Phi)-b and micro(eff)=c(A/Phi)+d, where Phi is the laser fluence, A is the FD-PA amplitude, and a, .

Laser photothermoacoustic heterodyned lock-in depth profilometry in turbid tissue phantoms.

Frequency-domain correlation and spectral analysis photothermoacoustic (FD-PTA) imaging is a promising new technique, which is being developed to detect tumor masses in turbid biological tissue. Unlike conventional biomedical photoacoustics which uses time-of-flight acoustic information induced by a pulsed laser to indicate the tumor size and location, in this research, a new FD-PTA instrument featuring frequency sweep (chirp) and heterodyne modulation and lock-in detection of a continuous-wave laser source at wavelength is constructed and tested for its depth profilometric capabilities with regard to turbid media imaging. Owing to the linear relationship between the depth of acoustic signal generation and the delay time of signal arrival to the transducer, information specific to a particular depth can be associated with a particular frequency in the chirp signal.

Optical and acoustic properties at 1064 nm of polyvinyl chloride-plastisol for use as a tissue phantom in biomedical optoacoustics.

A novel optoacoustic phantom made of polyvinyl chloride-plastisol (PVCP) for optoacoustic studies is described. The optical and acoustic properties of PVCP were measured. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) powder and black plastic colour (BPC) were used to introduce scattering and absorption, respectively, in the phantoms.

Development of a laser photothermoacoustic frequency-swept system for subsurface imaging: theory and experiment.

In conventional biomedical photoacoustic imaging systems, a pulsed laser is used to generate time-of-flight acoustic information of the subsurface features. This paper reports the theoretical and experimental development of a new frequency-domain (FD) photo-thermo-acoustic (PTA) principle featuring frequency sweep (chirp) and heterodyne modulation and lock-in detection of a continuous-wave laser source at 1064 nm wavelength. PTA imaging is a promising new technique which is being developed to detect tumor masses in turbid biological tissue.