Negative lens concept for photoacoustic tomography

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Optics
• Acoustic Imaging
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Small point ultrasound transducers offer wide acceptance angles but suffer from low sensitivity due to small active areas and high thermal noise.
• Finite-size flat transducers provide high sensitivity but have limited acceptance angles, restricting their use in photoacoustic tomography (PAT).

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel negative lens concept to enhance the acceptance angle of flat transducers in PAT without compromising sensitivity.
• To improve the detection region and overall performance of PAT systems.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a negative lens integrated with a flat ultrasound transducer.
• Conducting phantom experiments to evaluate the performance of the proposed system.
• Comparing the detection region and sensitivity with conventional transducer setups.

Main Results:

• The negative lens concept successfully increased the acceptance angle of the flat transducer.
• Phantom experiments confirmed a significantly larger detection region for PAT.
• High sensitivity was maintained with the enhanced transducer system.

Conclusions:

• The proposed negative lens approach effectively addresses the trade-off between acceptance angle and sensitivity in flat transducers for PAT.
• This method offers a promising solution for expanding the applicability of PAT by improving transducer performance.
• The enhanced detection capabilities pave the way for more comprehensive and sensitive photoacoustic imaging.