In this study, a virtual-point concept was introduced into fiber-laser photoacoustic tomography to improve the elevational image resolution. The flexible fiber laser was bent into an arc shape to conform to the ultrasound wavefront, which formed an ultrasound focus at the center of the arc. The synthetic aperture focusing technique was utilized to reconstruct the images; as a result, the elevational resolution particularly within the out-of-focus region was considerably improved compared to the resolution of an image retrieved by multiplexing the PA time-resolved signals with sound velocity. The all-optical fiber-laser photoacoustic tomography system with a high spatial resolution has potential for various applications, including biomedical research and preclinical/clinical diagnosis.

中文翻译：

---

基于虚拟点概念的光纤激光光声层析成像分辨率的提高

在这项研究中，将虚拟点概念引入光纤激光光声层析成像中，以提高高程图像分辨率。将柔性光纤激光器弯曲成弧形以顺应超声波波阵面，该超声波波阵在弧的中心形成超声焦点。利用合成孔径聚焦技术重建图像。结果，与通过将PA时间分辨信号与声速多路复用而获得的图像的分辨率相比，特别是在离焦区域内的仰角分辨率得到了显着改善。具有高空间分辨率的全光纤激光光声层析成像系统具有多种应用潜力，包括生物医学研究和临床前/临床诊断。