All-optical photoacoustic microscopy based on plasmonic detection of broadband ultrasound

Abstract

We report on an implementation of all-optical photoacoustic microscopy (PAM), which capitalizes on the effect of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for optical detection of ultrasound. The SPR sensor in our all-optical PAM shows, experimentally, a linear response to the acoustic pressure from 5.2 kPa to 2.1 MPa, an ultra-flat frequency response (±0.7 dB) from 680 kHz to 126 MHz, and a noise-equivalent pressure sensitivity of 3.3 kPa. With the broadband ultrasonic detection, our SPR-PAM has achieved high spatial resolution with relatively low anisotropy (i.e., 2.0 μm laterally and 8.4 μm axially). Three-dimensional high-resolution imaging of a single melanoma cell is demonstrated.