System and method for imaging based on ultrasonic tagging of light
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsPavel Alexeyevich Fomitchov, Kajoli Banerjee Krishnan, Stephen Johnson Lomnes, Floribertus P. M. Heukensfeldt Jansen
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Abstract
A technique is provided for imaging based on localization of fluorescence in a medium. The technique includes illuminating the medium with an excitation light to excite fluorescence, scanning the medium at a plurality of locations via an ultrasonic beam, modulating a portion of the emitted light from the fluorescence via the ultrasonic beam at each of the plurality of locations, differentially detecting the modulated light at a boundary of the medium, and reconstructing an image from the detected signal.
Claims33
A method for localization of fluorescence in a medium, the method comprising:
- illuminating the medium with an excitation light to excite the fluorescence resulting in an emission of light from the fluorescence;
- modulating a portion of the emitted light at a determined location that is away from the location of the fluorescence within the medium via an ultrasonic beam,
- wherein the determined location is between the location of the fluorescence and a surface of the medium;
- and
- differentially detecting the modulated light at the surface of the medium based on differences in a predetermined parameter,
- wherein the step of modulating is performed by an ultrasonically induced gradient of refractive index of the medium.
A method of imaging, the method comprising:
- illuminating a medium with an excitation light to excite fluorescence resulting in an emission of light from the fluorescence;
- scanning the medium at a plurality of determined locations via an ultrasonic beam;
- modulating a portion of the emitted light at each of the plurality of determined locations that are away from the location of the fluorescence within the medium via the ultrasonic beam, wherein the plurality of determined locations are between the location of the fluorescence and a boundary of the medium;
- differentially detecting the modulated light at the boundary of the medium based on differences in a predetermined parameter;
- and
- reconstructing an image from the detected signal,
- wherein the step of modulating is performed by an ultrasonically induced gradient of refractive index of the medium.
An acousto-optic imaging system for localization of fluorescence in a medium, the system comprising:
- an excitation light source for illuminating the medium with an excitation light;
- a fluorescent agent within a preselected region of the medium for absorbing the excitation light and emitting light in a near infrared spectral region via fluorescence;
- an ultrasonic scanning system for generating ultrasonic beam, wherein the ultrasonic beam modulates a portion of the emitted light at a determined location that is away from the fluorescent agent by forming an ultrasonically induced gradient of refractive index, wherein the determined location is between the location of the fluorescence within the medium and a surface of the medium;
- and
- an optical detection system for differentially detecting the modulated light based on differences in a predetermined parameter.
An imaging system, comprising:
- an excitation light source for illuminating a medium with an excitation light;
- a fluorescent agent within a preselected region of the medium for absorbing the excitation light and emitting light in a near infrared spectral region via fluorescence;
- an ultrasonic scanning system for:
- generating ultrasonic beam, wherein the ultrasonic beam scans the medium at a plurality of determined locations and modulates a portion of the emitted light at the plurality of determined locations that are away from the fluorescent agent by forming an ultrasonically induced gradient of refractive index;
- an optical detection system for differentially detecting the modulated light based on differences in a predetermined parameter;
- and
- a data processing system for reconstructing an image from the detected signal,
- wherein the plurality of determined locations are between the location of the fluorescence and the optical detection system,
- wherein the ultrasonically induced gradient of the refractive index acts as an acoustic lens, and an optical power of the acoustic lens varies in time and space at the frequency of the ultrasonic beam.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.