Abstract
Coherent frequency-domain microwave-induced thermoacoustic (TA) imaging is investigated as an alternative to the traditional pulsed-based TA imaging approaches that use extremely high-energy short excitation pulses, often produced by vacuum RF sources or spark-gap generators. It is shown that under peak-power limitation of the RF source, dictated by the goals of form factor and portability of this paper, the frequency-domain approach can achieve the required signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) without sacrificing resolution or other performance metrics. Theoretical and experimental comparison of the time-domain and frequency-domain TA methods is provided with the ultimate goal of implementing the imager with solid-state hardware. Using a microwave source with 120 W of peak power, frequency-domain TA demonstrates 27-dB SNR improvement over the pulse method while the average specific absorption ratio remains below 10 W/kg. Finally, we demonstrate TA images of multilayer relatively complex muscle-fat structures. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first TA images obtained with solid-state electronic sources.
Published Version
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