Optimal design of Bessel acoustic lens suitable for optical-resolution photoacoustic microscope with large depth of field

Abstract

Photoacoustic tomography is a new medical imaging technology with the advantages of high resolution, high contrast and high penetration depth. There are three common photoacoustic imaging methods in practical applications: photoacoustic microscopic imaging (PAM), photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT), photoacoustic tomography (PAE). As an important branch of photoacoustic imaging, photoacoustic microscopy combines high contrast of optical imaging with high resolution of ultrasonic imaging. In photoacoustic microscopy, acousto-optic coupling prism is a very important component, which is usually composed of irregular prism and spherical concave acoustic lens at the bottom. Its function is to carry out optical transmission and ultrasonic detection. The ultrasonic depth of field of spherical concave acoustic lens is limited. In order to overcome this defect, researchers propose to use conical concave acoustic lens to produce Bessel sound beam to realize large depth of field ultrasonic detection. But the conical concave acoustic lens affects laser focusing and imaging. In order to solve this problem, we propose an optimization method to eliminate the influence of conical concave acoustic lens on beam transmission. A calibration mirror is added to the acousto-optic coupling prism with conical concave acoustic lens at the bottom, and the deterioration of the cone concave acoustic lens to the beam transmission is eliminated by optimizing the surface shape and thickness of the calibration mirror by Zemax. The optimization effect is evaluated by analyzing the spot. The simulation results show that the optimization method can eliminate the influence of the conical concave acoustic lens on the beam transmission, make the focal point and the focal point keep the coaxial focus, and improve the detection efficiency of the photoacoustic signal. This work is of theoretical significance for the systematic study of large depth of field photoacoustic microscopy.