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US 9,955,873 B2Granted
Photoacoustic probe and photoacoustic diagnostic apparatus
AssigneesSamsung Medison Co., Ltd., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsJung-ho Kim, Dal-kwon Koh, Jung-taek Oh, Jong-kyu Jung
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Provided are a photoacoustic probe and photoacoustic diagnostic apparatus. The photoacoustic probe includes a light irradiation unit for irradiating first light that is used for photoacoustic imaging on an object and an indicator for providing information about whether the first light is irradiated by using the first light.
Claims16
A photoacoustic probe configured to irradiate light on an object, comprising:
- a light source providing a first light;
- a wavelength converter on a housing of the photoacoustic probe and configured to receive a portion of the first light provided by the light source and convert the received portion of the first light into a second light having a different wavelength than the first light;
- an opening disposed on the housing of the photoacoustic probe, receiving the second light from the wavelength converter, and outputting the second light itself to a user, the opening overlapping with the wavelength converter;
- and
- a light irradiator receiving a remaining portion of the first light provided by the light source and irradiating the remaining portion of the first light on the object,
- wherein the remaining portion of the first light and the second light are simultaneously output out of the housing of the photoacoustic probe such that the remaining portion of the first light is used for photoacoustic imaging and the second light is used for visibly indicating to the user whether the photoacoustic probe is irradiating the remaining portion of the first light on the object.
3 more elements
A photoacoustic diagnostic apparatus comprising:
- a light source providing a first light;
- a wavelength converter on a housing of a photoacoustic probe and configured to receive a portion of the first light provided by the light source and convert the received portion of the first light into a second light having a different wavelength than the first light;
- a light irradiator receiving a remaining portion of the first light provided by the light source and irradiating the remaining portion of first light on the object, and a transducer receiving acoustic waves corresponding to the remaining portion of the first light and converting the acoustic waves into electrical signals;
- a signal processor that processes the electrical signals received from the photoacoustic probe and generates a photoacoustic image;
- and
- an opening disposed on the housing of the photoacoustic probe, receiving the second light from the wavelength converter, and outputting the second light itself to a user, the opening overlapping with the wavelength converter,
- the remaining portion of the first light and the second light are simultaneously output out of the housing of the photoacoustic probe such that the remaining portion of the first light is used for photoacoustic imaging and the second light is used for visibly indicating to the user whether the photoacoustic probe is irradiating the remaining portion of the first light on the object.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.