Photoacoustic imaging

A short pulse of laser light absorbed in living tissue makes it expand and emit ultrasound. Photoacoustic imaging turns that sound back into high-contrast 2D and 3D images that combine optical contrast with ultrasonic depth. Tunable-wavelength lasers drive the effect in a wide range of pre-clinical and clinical applications.

Biomedical & Scientific
Biomedical & Scientific Spectroscopy Photoacoustic High intensity
Photoacoustic
Photoacoustic image of the upper torso and brain of a female mouse.

Imaging with laser-induced ultrasound

A pulse of tunable-wavelength laser light is absorbed in tissue; the absorbing structures expand and emit ultrasound, which transducers capture. Reconstruction turns those signals into high-contrast 2D or 3D images, from pre-clinical research through clinical diagnostics.
Sound-speed-compensated projections of the right breast of a healthy volunteer.

3D photoacoustic and ultrasound breast tomography

PAM3 images the breast with light and sound at once: photoacoustic tomography maps the blood vessels while ultrasound measures tissue sound speed, and that correction sharpens the whole 3D volume. The system reaches vessels 48 mm deep at roughly 0.7 mm resolution, with no radiation dose.
All applications