Calibrating reconstruction radius in a multi single-element ultrasound-transducer-based photoacoustic computed tomography system.

In a circular scanning photoacoustic computed tomography (PAT/PACT) system, a single-element ultrasound transducer (SUT) (rotates in full 360° around the sample) or a full-ring array transducer is used to acquire the photoacoustic (PA) data from the target object. SUT takes several minutes to acquire the PA data, whereas the full-ring array transducer takes only few seconds. Hence, for real-time imaging, full-ring circular array transducers are preferred.