Journal
MEDICAL PHYSICS
Volume 36, Issue 9, Pages 4084-4088Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1118/1.3187231
Keywords
photoacoustic imaging; speckle
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [R01 NS46214, R01 EB000712, R01 EB008085, U54 CA136398]
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Purpose: A long-standing conundrum is why photoacoustic tomography (PAT) possesses the unique ability to produce images devoid of speckle artifacts while all other coherent imaging technologies do not. Methods: In this paper, we explain the inherent mechanism that suppresses speckle in PAT, and the analysis was validated by simulations based on an experimental PAT system. Results: We found that the speckle-free feature of PAT results directly from the optical absorption contrast. Conclusions: All optical absorbers expand on laser excitation, and therefore all initial photoacoustic pressure rises are positive, which engenders strong correlations among the photoacoustic waves from the absorbers. As a result, prominent boundaries always build up in photoacoustic images and suppress the interior speckle. (C) 2009 American Association of Physicists in Medicine. [DOI: 10.1118/1.3187231]
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