Photoacoustic monitoring and imaging of blood vessels in tissue

Using very sensitive photoacoustical detectors we localized and monitored the blood content in tissue. In these detectors a PVdF-layer has been used as piezo-electric material and also fibers for the illumination of the sample are integrated. The resolution is about 20micrometers in depth and about 50-100micrometers laterally. The wavelengths of the laser light were 532 and 1064 nm. With these colors we can measure at different depths in tissue. The measurements concerned blood perfusion in real tissue: vessels in chicken breast, in test animals at various positions and in the human arm.