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Adaptive Light Modulation for Improved Resolution and Efficiency in All-Optical Pulse-Echo Ultrasound

Alles, EJ; Colchester, RJ; Desjardins, AE; (2016) Adaptive Light Modulation for Improved Resolution and Efficiency in All-Optical Pulse-Echo Ultrasound. IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control , 63 (1) pp. 83-90. 10.1109/TUFFC.2015.2497465. Green open access

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Abstract

In biomedical all-optical pulse-echo ultrasound systems, ultrasound is generated with the photoacoustic effect by illuminating an optically absorbing structure with a temporally modulated light source. Nanosecond range laser pulses are typically used, which can yield bandwidths exceeding 100 MHz. However, acoustical attenuation within tissue or nonuniformities in the detector or source power spectra result in energy loss at the affected frequencies and in a reduced overall system efficiency. In this work, a laser diode is used to generate linear and nonlinear chirp optical modulations that are extended to microsecond time scales, with bandwidths constrained to the system sensitivity. Compared to those obtained using a 2-ns pulsed laser, pulse-echo images of a phantom obtained using linear chirp excitation exhibit similar axial resolution (99 versus 92 [Formula: see text], respectively) and signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) (10.3 versus 9.6 dB). In addition, the axial point spread function (PSF) exhibits lower sidelobe levels in the case of chirp modulation. Using nonlinear (time-stretched) chirp excitations, where the nonlinearity is computed from measurements of the spectral sensitivity of the system, the power spectrum of the imaging system was flattened and its bandwidth broadened. Consequently, the PSF has a narrower axial extent and still lower sidelobe levels. Pulse-echo images acquired with time-stretched chirps as optical modulation have higher axial resolution (64 [Formula: see text]) than those obtained with linear chirps, at the expense of a lower SNR (6.8 dB). Using a linear or time-stretched chirp, the conversion efficiency from optical power to acoustical pressure improved by a factor of 70 or 61, respectively, compared to that obtained with pulsed excitation.

Type: Article
Title: Adaptive Light Modulation for Improved Resolution and Efficiency in All-Optical Pulse-Echo Ultrasound
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1109/TUFFC.2015.2497465
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TUFFC.2015.2497465
Language: English
Additional information: © 2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.
Keywords: Chirp, Optical modulation, Optical imaging, Optical sensors, Bandwidth, Biomedical optical imaging, Acoustics
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Med Phys and Biomedical Eng
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1472262
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