Analysis of photoacoustic signal frequencies in deep tissue phantoms using high sensitive interferometric optical sensors

Laser optoacoustics is based on the interaction of light with materials producing the thermoelastic effect forming acoustic waves which are characteristic of the medium in which they traverse. This technique is currently on trial for use in biomedical imaging applications and is achieving great success. The work presented here develops an innovative technique for wideband acoustic detection using a fibre optic sensor in a high sensitive multi-coil Mach-Zehnder interferometric configuration. A comparative analysis is performed using both electrical and optical detection techniques on gels which are commonly used to mimic human soft tissue. Indications of future work in this area will be presented throughout this paper.