Non-contact biomedical photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging.

The detection of ultrasound in photoacoustic tomography (PAT) usually relies on ultrasonic transducers in contact with the biological tissue through a coupling medium. This is a major drawback for important potential applications such as surgery. Here we report the use of a remote optical method, derived from industrial laser-ultrasonics, to detect ultrasound in tissues.

Non-contact photoacoustic tomography and ultrasonography for tissue imaging.

The detection of ultrasound in photoacoustic tomography (PAT) and ultrasonography (US) usually relies on ultrasonic transducers in contact with the biological tissue. This is a major drawback for important potential applications such as surgery and small animal imaging. Here we report the use of remote optical detection, as used in industrial laser-ultrasonics, to detect ultrasound in biological tissues.

Intravascular optical coherence tomography on a beating heart model.

The advantages and limitations of using a beating heart model in the development of intravascular optical coherence tomography are discussed. The model fills the gap between bench experiments, performed on phantoms and excised arteries, and whole animal in-vivo preparations. The beating heart model is stable for many hours, allowing for extended measurement times and multiple imaging sessions under in-vivo conditions without the complications of maintaining whole-animal preparation.

Ultrasound-modulated optical imaging using a high-power pulsed laser and a double-pass confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer.

We report the use of short ultrasonic bursts and high-peak-power laser pulses to detect absorbing objects in thick scattering media (SMs). The detection of ultrasound-tagged photons is performed with a double-pass confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer. Photons shifted by the fundamental and harmonic frequencies of the ultrasonic bursts were observed.

Ultrasound-modulated optical imaging using a powerful long pulse laser.

Ultrasound-modulated optical imaging (or tomography) is an emerging biodiagnostic technique which provides the optical spectroscopic signature and the localization of an absorbing object embedded in a strongly scattering medium. We propose to improve the sensitivity of the technique by using a pulsed single-frequency laser to raise the optical peak power applied to the scattering medium and thereby collect more ultrasonically tagged photons. Moreover, when the detection of tagged photons is done with a photorefractive interferometer, the high optical peak power reduces the response time of the photorefractive crystal below the speckle field decorrelation time.

Deformable and durable phantoms with controlled density of scatterers.

We have developed deformable and durable optical tissue phantoms with a simple and well-defined microstructure including a novel combination of scatterers and a matrix material. These were developed for speckle and elastography investigations in optical coherence tomography, but should prove useful in many other fields. We present in detail the fabrication process which involves embedding silica microspheres in a silicone matrix.