Miniature All-Optical Flexible Forward-Viewing Photoacoustic Endoscopy Probe For Surgical Guidance

A miniature flexible photoacoustic endoscopy probe that provides high-resolution 3D images of vascular structures in the forward-viewing configuration is described. A planar Fabry-Perot ultrasound sensor with a -3 dB bandwidth of 53 MHz located at the tip of the probe is interrogated via a flexible fiber bundle and a miniature optical relay system to realize an all-optical probe measuring 7.4 mm in outer diameter at the tip. This approach to photoacoustic endoscopy offers advantages over previous piezoelectric based distal-end scanning probes. These include a forward-viewing configuration in widefield photoacoustic tomography mode, finer spatial sampling (87 mu m spatial sampling interval), and wider detection bandwidth (53 MHz) than has been achievable with conventional ultrasound detection technology and an all-optical passive imaging head for safe endoscopic use. Published by The Optical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.