Ultrasound-modulated optical microscopy.

We demonstrate that microscopic imaging is feasible in ultrasound-modulated optical tomography (UOT) of soft biological tissues, using a high-frequency focused ultrasound transducer with a 75-MHz central frequency. Our experiments in tissue mimicking phantoms show that at an imaging depth of about 2 mm, an axial resolution better than 30 microm can be achieved, whereas the lateral resolution is 38 microm. A long-cavity scanning confocal Fabry-Perot interferometer (CFPI) is used for real-time detection of multiply scattered light modulated by high-frequency ultrasound pulses propagating in an optically scattering medium. We also compare the performances of various high-frequency focused ultrasound transducers with central frequencies of 15 MHz, 30 MHz, 50 MHz, and 75 MHz. The comparison is based on two-dimensional (2-D) images of optically absorbing objects positioned at a few millimeters depth below the surface of both optically scattering phantoms and soft biological tissue samples. Our experimental results show that modulation depth and image contrast decrease with an increase in ultrasound frequency. In addition, we use analytical calculations to show that modulation depth decreases with increasing ultrasound frequency.