Portable probe for photoacoustic tomography and real-time photoacoustic tomography device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020397404-A1
Application number	US-202017013664-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 7, 2020
Priority date	Nov 30, 2016
Publication date	Dec 24, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present invention relates to a portable probe for photoacoustic tomography, capable of performing line-by-line scanning or area-by-area scanning by using a small number of light inputs; and a real-time photoacoustic tomography device. The probe for photoacoustic tomography includes: a lens receiving light inputs from an optical fiber so as to make the same proceed as small diameter parallel light; a Powell lens receiving the small diameter parallel light and generating a line beam of a predetermined thickness, and allowing energy dispersed on a line to be uniform on the entire line; a lens making the line beam pass therethrough such that the line beam has a predetermined width and a reduced thickness so as to be line-focused at a target area; an acoustic reflection glass for separating, from a light path, an acoustic wave outputted from the target area; and an acoustic measurement unit for measuring acoustic strength.

First claim

1 . A probe for photoacoustic tomography comprising:
a Powell lens for converting a beam having a circular cross section into a line beam with uniform energy distribution; a condenser lens disposed adjacently to the Powell lens to receive directly the line beam from the Powell lens and has the line beam having a predetermined width and a reduced thickness while the line beam passes therethrough the condenser lens, thereby focusing on a target area; an acoustic measurement unit for receiving an acoustic wave outputted from the target area in response to the line beam focused on the target area; and a reflector disposed on a side of the target area to allow the acoustic wave to be incident to the acoustic measurement unit.

2 . A probe for photoacoustic tomography comprising:
a Powell lens for converting a beam having a circular cross section into a line beam with uniform energy distribution; a first cylindrical lens and a second cylindrical lens arranged sequentially in a traveling direction of the line beam from the Powell lens so that the line beam has a constant width and a reduced thickness while the line beam passes therethrough the first cylindrical lens and the second cylindrical lens, thereby focusing on a target area; and an acoustic measurement unit for receiving an acoustic wave outputted from the target area in response to the line beam focused on the target area, wherein the second cylindrical lens is disposed to be rotated at 90 degrees relative to the first cylindrical lens.

3 . The probe of claim 2 , wherein a convex surface of the first cylindrical lens and a convex surface of the second cylindrical lens face each other.

4 . The probe of claim 2 , wherein the Powell lens includes a pair of Powell lenses spaced a predetermined distance apart from each other, line beams generated from each of the pair of Powell lenses are irradiated to the first cylindrical lens in parallel with each other.

5 . The probe of claim 2 , wherein each of the first cylindrical lens and the second cylindrical lens has a flat surface on one side thereof and a convex surface on the other side thereof, the first cylindrical lens has the convex surface toward the target area.

6 . The probe of claim 2 , further comprising a reflector located at a side of the target area to allow the acoustic wave outputted from the target area to be incident to the acoustic measurement unit.

7 . The probe of claim 2 , wherein the second cylindrical lens is a variable focus lens capable of controlling a focusing depth within a tissue, on which the line beam is focused, at the target area.

8 . A probe for photoacoustic tomography comprising:
a Powell lens for converting a beam having a circular cross section into a line beam having a uniform energy distribution; a cylindrical lens allowing the line beam to pass therethrough so as to generate parallel light beam having a constant width and a constant thickness; a pair of light path changing members for changing light paths of the parallel light beam so that the parallel light beam is focused on a target area; and an acoustic measurement unit disposed between the pair of light path changing members so as to directly receive an acoustic wave outputted from the target area in response to the line beam focused on the target area.

9 . The probe of claim 8 , further comprising;
a beam splitter member for splitting the parallel light beam into a first parallel light beam and a second parallel light beam, wherein the pair of light path changing members changes light paths of the first parallel light beam and the second parallel light beam so as to be area-focused at the target area.

10 . The probe of claim 9 , wherein the beam splitter member includes a pair of prisms arranged to correspond to each other.

11 . The probe of claim 8 , wherein each of the light path changing members includes a pair of prisms having right-angled faces facing each other.

12 . The probe of claim 9 , wherein the beam splitter member includes a pair of prisms having acute angle portions adjoining each other, each of the light path changing members includes a pair of prisms having right-angled faces facing each other.

13 . The probe of claim 9 , wherein when the line beam having a uniform energy distribution by the Powell lens is split into beams of two light paths by the beam splitter member and then area-focused, the split beams have a uniform energy distribution on the entire focusing area.

14 . The probe of claim 8 , wherein the acoustic measurement unit includes a plurality of linear ultrasonic transducers.

15 . The probe of claim 8 , wherein the light path changing members allows the parallel light beam to pass therethrough to generate a line bessel beam.

Assignees

• Nat Univ Pukyong Ind Univ Coop Found

Inventors

• Oak Chul Ho
• Park Eun Kee
• Park Jung-Eun
• Ahn Yeh Chan

Classifications

• A61B5/0095 Primary

  by applying light and detecting acoustic waves, i.e. photoacoustic measurements · CPC title

• A61B5/0062

  Arrangements for scanning · CPC title

• A61B8/4477

  using several separate ultrasound transducers or probes · CPC title

• A61B8/4444

  related to the probe · CPC title

• G01N29/2418 Primary

  using optoacoustic interaction with the material, e.g. laser radiation, photoacoustics (photoacoustic cells G01N21/1702; measuring characteristics of vibrations by using radiation-sensitive means G01H9/00; acousto-optical conversion techniques for short-range imaging G01S15/8965; sound-producing devices using laser bundle G10K15/046) · CPC title