Abstract

Viscoelasticity is closely related to the physiological characteristics of biological tissues. In this Letter, we propose a novel spectral interferometric depth-resolved photoacoustic viscoelasticity imaging (SID-PAVEI) method, to the best of our knowledge for the first time, which breaks the plight of surface viscoelasticity imaging and achieves an internal visible microscale SID-PAVEI in a noncontact fashion. In this work, we employ a high-sensitive and depth-resolved spectral domain low coherence interferometry (SDLCI) to remotely track photoacoustic-induced strain response of absorbers in situ. By decoupling the phase and amplitude of the photoacoustic-encoded spectral interference signal, the SID-PAVEI and scattering structure imaging (SSI) can be obtained simultaneously. Depth-resolved performance of the SID-PAVEI and the SSI in one scan were demonstrated by imaging biological tissues. The method opens new perspectives for three-dimensional microscale viscoelasticity imaging and provides a great potential in multi-parametric characterizing pathological information.

© 2021 Optical Society of America

Mechanical evaluation of lipid accumulation in atherosclerotic tissues by photoacoustic viscoelasticity imaging

Yue Zhao, Conggui Chen, Sihua Yang, and Da Xing
Opt. Lett. 41(19) 4522-4525 (2016)

Viscoelasticity imaging of biological tissues with phase-resolved photoacoustic measurement

Guodong Gao, Sihua Yang, and Da Xing
Opt. Lett. 36(17) 3341-3343 (2011)

Simultaneous optical absorption and viscoelasticity imaging based on photoacoustic lock-in measurement

Yue Zhao, Sihua Yang, Conggui Chen, and Da Xing
Opt. Lett. 39(9) 2565-2568 (2014)

All-optical noncontact phase-domain photoacoustic elastography

Fen Yang, Zhongjiang Chen, and Da Xing
Opt. Lett. 46(19) 5063-5066 (2021)

Photoacoustic elastography

Pengfei Hai, Junjie Yao, Guo Li, Chiye Li, and Lihong V. Wang
Opt. Lett. 41(4) 725-728 (2016)