Novel design for LiNbO₃ single crystal transparency sensor for photoacoustic image application

Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) plays a vital role in label-free microscopic imaging of the optical absorption contrast in tissues. It usually combined single ultrasound transducer to receive the acoustic waves converted from absorbed optical energy by transient thermoelastic expansion. The opaqueness of conventional ultrasound transducers makes the system to misalignment, complicated and bulky. However, recent developed transparent transducer has lower bandwidth as lack of appropriate matching and backing, which will cause lower axial resolution for imaging. Hence, developing 30-MHz transparent transducer with a -6 dB bandwidth higher than 50% will bring more feasibilities to achieve photoacoustic imaging with higher resolution. And this study indicated the potential of developing new transparent ultrasound transducer for photoacoustic imaging, which will bring more possibilities to develop a fast, compact, and, hand-held PAM imaging device.