Ultrasound (US) transducer of higher operating frequency detects photoacoustic (PA) signals due to the contrast in elastic property

Abstract

We report our study that shows selection in operating frequency of US-transducer used for boundary detection of PA-signals, which result due to the contrast in elastic property distribution (E (r →)) in sample material other than that of optical absorption coefficient (μa). Studies were carried out, experimentally, in tissue-mimicking Agar phantoms employing acoustic resolution photoacoustic microscopy (AR-PAM) system as an imaging unit. In the experiments, various transducers having different operating frequencies, ranging from 1MHz to 50MHz, were employed for studying frequency response of the photoacoustic signals. The study shows that, for detecting photoacoustic signals due to the contrast in elastic property, ultrasound transducer with higher operating frequency (∼50MHz) is demanded.