Development of a Compact Photoacoustic Tomography Imaging System with Dual Single-Element Transducers for Image Enhancement

Objective This paper proposes a new photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) imaging system employing dual ultrasonic transducers with different frequencies. When imaging complex biological tissues, photoacoustic (PA) signals with multiple frequencies are produced simultaneously; however, due to the limited bandwidth of a single-frequency transducer, the received PA signals with specific frequencies may be missing, leading to a low imaging quality. Methods In contrast to our previous work, the proposed system has a compact volume as well as specific selection of the detection center frequency of the transducer, which can provide a comprehensive range for the detection of PA signals. In this study, a series of numerical simulation and phantom experiments were performed to validate the efficacy of the developed PACT system. Results The images generated by our system combined the advantages of both high resolution and ideal brightness/contrast. Conclusion The interchangeability of transducers with different frequencies provides potential for clinical deployment under the circumstance where a single frequency transducer cannot perform well.