Compact optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy using a large-diameter focused ring transducer and GRIN illumination optics

Abstract

We developed an optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) system featuring the compact size for the scanning head with a diameter of less than 15 mm and a height of 50 mm. This compact design was made possible by improving related fabrication methods for an acoustic lens-based focused ring transducer with a large active area (~10 mm) and a GRIN lens-based optical illumination module. This new OR-PAM system offers significant advantages over conventional systems, as demonstrated by the first in vivo imaging results of a mouse ear.