Fiber-based Broadband Ultrasound Detector for Photoacousitc Imaging

Photoacoustic Imaging is an emerging imaging technology mainly for biology and medicine which combines the advantages of diffuse optical imaging (high contrast) and ultrasonic imaging (high spatial resolution). A short laser pulse excites the sample. The absorbed energy causes thermoelastic expansion and thereby launches broadband ultrasonic waves. For collecting these waves we introduced integrating line detectors which integrate the pressure along one direction. A fiber-based approach was realized using an interferometer integrated either in glass fibers or polymer fibers. In this work we present the proof of principle of this approach.