Laser-scanning optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy.

We have developed a laser-scanning optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy method that can potentially fuse with existing optical microscopic imaging modalities. To acquire an image, the ultrasonic transducer is kept stationary during data acquisition, and only the laser light is raster scanned by an x-y galvanometer scanner. A lateral resolution of 7.8 microm and a circular field of view with a diameter of 6 mm were achieved in an optically clear medium. Using a laser system working at a pulse repetition rate of 1,024 Hz, the data acquisition time for an image consisting of 256 x 256 pixels was less than 2 min.