Photoacoustic imaging using an 8-beam Fabry-Perot scanner

Abstract

The planar Fabry Perot (FP) photoacoustic scanner has been shown to provide exquisite high resolution 3D images of soft tissue structures in vivo to depths up to approximately 10mm. However a significant limitation of current embodiments of the concept is low image acquisition speed. To increase acquisition speed, a novel multi-beam scanner architecture has been developed. This enables a line of equally spaced 8 interrogation beams to be scanned simultaneously across the FP sensor and the photoacoustic signals detected in parallel. In addition, an excitation laser operating at 200Hz was used. The combination of parallelising the detection and the high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of the excitation laser has enabled dramatic reductions in image acquisition time to be achieved. A 3D image can now be acquired in 10 seconds and 2D images at video rates are now possible.