Optical time reversal by ultrasonic encoding in biological tissue
AssigneeWashington University
InventorsLihong Wang, Xiao Xu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Generating an optical-phase conjugation of ultrasonically-modulated diffuse light emitted by a scattering medium includes illuminating the medium with a light beam from a coherent light source, modulating the diffuse light transmitted through the medium with an ultrasonic wave focused on a region of interest within the medium, and retro-reflectively illuminating the medium using a phase-conjugated copy of the diffuse light that was ultrasonically modulated.
Claims20
A method for generating an optical-phase conjugation of diffuse light emitted by a scattering medium comprising:
- illuminating the medium with a light beam from a coherent light source;
- ultrasonically modulating the diffuse light transmitted through the medium with an ultrasonic wave focused on a region of interest within the medium;
- and
- retro-reflectively illuminating the medium using a phase-conjugated copy of the diffuse light that was ultrasonically modulated.
An imaging system comprising:
- a continuous wave laser to emit a light beam and to illuminate a scattering medium such that diffuse light is emitted by the medium in response to the light beam;
- an ultrasonic transducer to modulate the diffuse light transmitted through the medium with an ultrasonic wave focused on a region of interest within the medium;
- a photorefractive device to create a phase-conjugated copy of the ultrasonically-modulated diffuse light and to illuminate the medium using the phase-conjugated light that converges to a focal zone of the ultrasonic wave;
- and
- a computer to control emission of the light beam by the laser.
An apparatus for use with an imaging system, the apparatus comprising:
- a continuous wave laser to emit a light beam and to illuminate a scattering medium such that diffuse light is emitted by the medium in response to the light beam;
- an ultrasonic transducer to modulate the diffuse light transmitted through the medium with an ultrasonic wave focused on a region of interest within the medium;
- and
- a photorefractive device to create a phase-conjugated copy of the ultrasonically-modulated diffuse light and to illuminate the medium using the phase-conjugated light that converges to a focal zone of the ultrasonic wave.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.