(Sunday, 7/14/2019) 3:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Room: Exhibit Hall | Forum 4
Purpose: Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) is an emerging imaging technology that can non-invasively visualize ocular structures in animal eyes. However, a major limitation of PAM is the long acquisition times (up to hours). The acquired signals are also generally weak while the signal-to-noise-ratio is low, problems often solved by signal averaging, which complicates acquisition and increases acquisition times to an extent that makes many in vivo applications challenging or even impossible. The purpose of this study is to explore fast mechanism PAM, which applies the commonly applied photoacoustic signal acquisition loop, including moving a stepper motor, with a continuous acquisition loop to address this challenge.
Methods: First, employment of a theoretical continuous data acquisition method, for which the rotation stage is accelerated to a predefined speed (depending on the number of projections to be acquired) and continuously moves for the entire 360° revolution. Low pulse-to-pulse jitter of the laser (<5 ps) provides good positioning accuracy. For validation of reconstruction accuracy, exact stage positions for the initial and last angular projection will be recorded. The signals will be acquired and stored for every laser pulse without averaging. If more signals are required for better SNR, the rotation speed is reduced so that more projections can be acquired.
Results: Compared to averaging methods, the theoretical analysis shows the continuous acquisition significantly cuts on acquisition times and allows recording of a greater number of information-containing projections. Applying this technology will progress research efforts to reach clinical usage and help reduce the image processing time that patients are currently facing.
Conclusion: In fast mechanism PAM, the acquisition time is dramatically reduced, and information-containing projections are improved. This new modality has the potential to eliminate wait time while allowing for better diagnosis in medicine as well as biology.
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