Ring Ultrasound Transducer Based Miniaturized Photoacoustic Imaging System

摘要

In recent years photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) systems have attracted significant attention from biomedical researchers due to their ability to provide label-free imaging of hemoglobin (vasculature), lipids, and melanin with high spatial and temporal resolutions, even from > 1 mm depths inside biological tissue. This work reports the development of a low-cost and miniaturized photoacoustic imaging device for microscopy applications. A ring ultrasound transducer with 2.5 mm outer diameter and 0.5 mm inner diameter is fabricated using a 150 μm thick PZT element working as the piezoelectric layer. A fiber coupled pulsed laser diode is coaxially fed through the ring transducer that is mounted on the top of a ferrule. Raster scanning of the integrated device generated three-dimensional images of a tissue-mimicking phantom.