Photoacoustic remote sensing (PARS)
AssigneeIllumisonics Inc.
InventorsParsin Haji Reza, Roger Zemp
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A photoacoustic remote sensing system (PARS) for imaging a subsurface structure in a sample has an excitation beam configured to generate ultrasonic signals in the sample at an excitation location; an interrogation beam incident on the sample at the excitation location, a portion of the interrogation beam returning from the sample that is indicative of the generated ultrasonic signals; an optical system that focuses at least one of the excitation beam and the interrogation beam with a focal point that is below the surface of the sample; and a detector that detects the returning portion of the interrogation beam.
Claims16
A photoacoustic remote sensing system (PARS) for imaging a subsurface structure in a sample with optical resolution, comprising:
- a pulsed or intensity-modulated excitation beam configured to generate ultrasonic signals in the sample at an excitation location;
- a continuous interrogation beam incident on the sample at the excitation location, a portion of the interrogation beam returning from the sample that is indicative of the generated ultrasonic signals;
- an optical system that focuses the excitation beam at a first focal point and the interrogation beam at a second focal point, the first and second focal points being below the surface of and within the sample;
- and
- an interferometer that detects the returning portion of the interrogation beam.
An endoscopic device that uses a photoacoustic remote sensing confocal microscopy system (PARS) for imaging a subsurface structure in a sample with optical resolution, the endoscopic device comprising:
- a fiber optic cable having an input end and a detection end;
- a pulsed or intensity-modulated excitation beam coupled to the input end of the fiber optic cable, wherein in use the excitation beam generates ultrasonic signals in the sample at an excitation location that is adjacent to the detection end of the fiber optic cable, the fiber optic cable focusing the excitation beam at a first focal point that is below the surface of and within the sample;
- a continuous interrogation beam coupled to the input end of the fiber optic cable and incident on the excitation location, the fiber optic cable focusing the interrogation beam at a second focal point that is below the surface of and within the sample, wherein a portion of the interrogation beam that is indicative of the generated ultrasonic signals is received by the detection end of the fiber optic cable and travels to the input end;
- and
- an interferometer that receives the returning portion of the interrogation beam at the input end of the fiber optic cable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.