Thin polymer etalon arrays for high-resolution photoacoustic imaging.

Thin polymer etalons are demonstrated as high-frequency ultrasound sensors for three-dimensional (3-D) high-resolution photoacoustic imaging. The etalon, a Fabry-Perot optical resonator, consists of a thin polymer slab sandwiched between two gold layers. It is probed with a scanning continuous-wave (CW) laser for ultrasound array detection. Detection bandwidth of a 20-microm-diam array element exceeds 50 MHz, and the ultrasound sensitivity is comparable to polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) equivalents of similar size. In a typical photoacoustic imaging setup, a pulsed laser beam illuminates the imaging target, where optical energy is absorbed and acoustic waves are generated through the thermoelastic effect. An ultrasound detection array is formed by scanning the probing laser beam on the etalon surface in either a 1-D or a 2-D configuration, which produces 2-D or 3-D images, respectively. Axial and lateral resolutions have been demonstrated to be better than 20 microm. Detailed characterizations of the optical and acoustical properties of the etalon, as well as photoacoustic imaging results, suggest that thin polymer etalon arrays can be used as ultrasound detectors for 3-D high-resolution photoacoustic imaging applications.

[1]  Matthew O'Donnell,et al.  Ultrasound detection using polymer microring optical resonator , 2004 .

[2]  Nastassja A. Lewinski,et al.  Optically tunable nanoparticle contrast agents for early cancer detection: model-based analysis of gold nanoshells. , 2005, Journal of biomedical optics.

[3]  Zhongping Chen,et al.  Optical coherence tomography of malignancy in hamster cheek pouches. , 2004, Journal of biomedical optics.

[4]  P. Beard,et al.  Characterization of a polymer film optical fiber hydrophone for use in the range 1 to 20 MHz: A comparison with PVDF needle and membrane hydrophones , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[5]  W. Heindel,et al.  Screening for early lung cancer with low-dose spiral CT: prevalence in 817 asymptomatic smokers. , 2002, Radiology.

[6]  Yuan Xu,et al.  Exact frequency-domain reconstruction for thermoacoustic tomography. I. Planar geometry , 2002, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[7]  Matthew O'Donnell,et al.  Optoacoustic imaging using thin polymer étalon , 2005 .

[8]  Yingtian Pan,et al.  Detection of tumorigenesis in urinary bladder with optical coherence tomography: optical characterization of morphological changes. , 2002, Optics express.

[9]  F. Perennes,et al.  Transduction mechanisms of the Fabry-Perot polymer film sensing concept for wideband ultrasound detection , 1999, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[10]  K.K. Shung,et al.  Development of a 35-MHz piezo-composite ultrasound array for medical imaging , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[11]  Marce Eleccion,et al.  Laser hazards , 1973, IEEE Spectrum.

[12]  Minghua Xu,et al.  Time-domain reconstruction for thermoacoustic tomography in a spherical geometry , 2002, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[13]  J. Cannata,et al.  Development of a high-frequency (> 50 MHz) copolymer annular-array, ultrasound transducer , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[14]  J.D. Hamilton,et al.  High frequency ultrasound imaging using an active optical detector , 1998, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[15]  O. Oralkan,et al.  Volumetric ultrasound imaging using 2-D CMUT arrays , 2003, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[16]  M. O'Donnell,et al.  High frequency optoacoustic arrays using etalon detection , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[17]  W. Welford.  Principles of optics (5th Edition): M. Born, E. Wolf Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1975, pp xxviii + 808, £9.50 , 1975 .

[18]  K Paulsen,et al.  Instrumentation and design of a frequency-domain diffuse optical tomography imager for breast cancer detection. , 1997, Optics express.

[19]  O. Oralkan,et al.  High-frequency CMUT arrays for high-resolution medical imaging , 2004, IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, 2004.

[20]  Jan Laufer,et al.  Backward-mode multiwavelength photoacoustic scanner using a planar Fabry-Perot polymer film ultrasound sensor for high-resolution three-dimensional imaging of biological tissues. , 2008, Applied optics.

[21]  J. Monchalin.  Optical Detection of Ultrasound , 1986, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[22]  8F-2 High-Frequency Low-Noise Ultrasonic Detection Arrays Based on Parallelly Probing an Etalon , 2007, 2007 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium Proceedings.

[23]  Lihong V. Wang.  Ultrasound-Mediated Biophotonic Imaging: A Review of Acousto-Optical Tomography and Photo-Acoustic Tomography , 2004, Disease markers.

[24]  Alexander A. Oraevsky,et al.  Optoacoustic imaging of blood for visualization and diagnostics of breast cancer , 2002, SPIE BiOS.

[25]  Yuan Xu,et al.  Rhesus monkey brain imaging through intact skull with thermoacoustic tomography , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[26]  F. Fazio,et al.  Early lung-cancer detection with spiral CT and positron emission tomography in heavy smokers: 2-year results , 2003, The Lancet.

[27]  Robert A. Smith,et al.  American Cancer Society Guidelines for the Early Detection of Cancer, 2003 , 2003, CA: a cancer journal for clinicians.

[28]  Qi Zhou,et al.  A Tumor-Targeted Nanodelivery System to Improve Early MRI Detection of Cancer , 2006, Molecular imaging.

[29]  O. Miettinen,et al.  Early Lung Cancer Action Project: overall design and findings from baseline screening , 1999, The Lancet.

[30]  J.A. Johnson,et al.  A High-Frame Rate High-Frequency Ultrasonic System for Cardiac Imaging in Mice , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[31]  Ekaterina Lukianova,et al.  Method of laser activated nano-thermolysis for elimination of tumor cells. , 2006, Cancer letters.

[32]  J. Fujimoto.  Optical coherence tomography for ultrahigh resolution in vivo imaging , 2003, Nature Biotechnology.

[33]  Vasilis Ntziachristos,et al.  Looking and listening to light: the evolution of whole-body photonic imaging , 2005, Nature Biotechnology.

[34]  Volker Wilkens,et al.  Characterization of an optical multilayer hydrophone with constant frequency response in the range from 1 to 75 MHz. , 2003, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[35]  E. Chérin,et al.  A new ultrasound instrument for in vivo microimaging of mice. , 2002, Ultrasound in medicine & biology.

[36]  S. Ashkenazi,et al.  2D optoacoustic array for high resolution imaging , 2006, SPIE BiOS.

[37]  Lihong V. Wang,et al.  Photoacoustic imaging in biomedicine , 2006 .

[38]  Hao Zhang,et al.  Imaging of hemoglobin oxygen saturation variations in single vessels in vivo using photoacoustic microscopy , 2007 .

[39]  Lihong V. Wang,et al.  Photoacoustic imaging of the microvasculature with a high-frequency ultrasound array transducer. , 2007, Journal of biomedical optics.

[40]  Paul C. Beard,et al.  Characterisation of a polmer film optical fibre hydropone for the measurement of ultrasound fields for use in the range 1-20MHz: a comparsion with PVDF needle and membrane hydrophones , 2000 .

[41]  V. Ntziachristos,et al.  Three-dimensional diffuse optical tomography in the parallel plane transmission geometry: evaluation of a hybrid frequency domain/continuous wave clinical system for breast imaging. , 2003, Medical physics.

[42]  S. Arridge,et al.  Nonuniqueness in diffusion-based optical tomography. , 1998, Optics letters.

[43]  Robert A Smith,et al.  American Cancer Society guidelines for the early detection of cancer , 2000, CA: a cancer journal for clinicians.

[44]  Bernhard Walter,et al.  High-intensity focused ultrasound for the treatment of localized prostate cancer: 5-year experience. , 2004, Urology.

[45]  H. K. Wickramasinghe,et al.  A Fabry-Perot acoustic surface vibration detector - application to acoustic holography , 1973 .

[46]  Sheng-Wen Huang,et al.  High-frequency ultrasound sensors using polymer microring resonators , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.

[47]  Matthew O'Donnell,et al.  Broadband all-optical ultrasound transducers , 2007 .

[48]  N. E. Fisher,et al.  Combined ultrasound and temperature sensor using a fibre Bragg grating , 1999 .

[49]  P C Beard,et al.  Extrinsic optical-fiber ultrasound sensor using a thin polymer film as a low-finesse Fabry-Perot interferometer. , 1996, Applied optics.

[50]  C. Desimone,et al.  Ultrasound screening for the early detection of ovarian cancer. , 2003, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[51]  Lihong V. Wang,et al.  Noninvasive laser-induced photoacoustic tomography for structural and functional in vivo imaging of the brain , 2003, Nature Biotechnology.

[52]  Alexander A. Oraevsky,et al.  Laser optoacoustic imaging of breast cancer in vivo , 2001, SPIE BiOS.

[53]  Lihong V. Wang,et al.  Photoacoustic imaging of lacZ gene expression in vivo. , 2007, Journal of biomedical optics.