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The Photoacoustic Imaging Goup was founded in 2002 and forms a sub-group of the UCL Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory, BORL. It currently comprises 9 researchers, funded through a combination of UK research council grants and industrial sponsorship. Our activities are directed towards the development of a promising new method of non-invasive biomedical imaging based upon the use of laser-generated acoustic waves for visualising the internal structure and function of soft tissues. Potential applications include the clinical assessment of breast cancer, vascular disease and skin abnormalities. The technique also has important applications as a research tool in the basic life sciences for undertaking molecular and genomic imaging studies, for example studying tumour physiology. Our current research encompasses the full range of activities in photoacoustic methods: photoacoustic detection and excitation instrumentation, modelling of photoacoustic signals, image reconstruction algorithms, spectroscopic methods and the application of the technique in the clinical and life sciences.

In addition to biomedical photoacoustic imaging, a range of ultrasound field measurement and imaging tools based upon the use of Fabry Perot polymer film sensing interferometers is being developed. These include a miniature wideband fibre optic hydrophone for characterising medical and industrial ultrasound fields and high speed 2D arrays for field visualisation and imaging applications in medicine and industrial NDT.

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k-Wave - a Matlab toolbox for the simulation of photoacoustic and ultrasound fields

Recently published articles:

Treeby BE, and Pan J, (2009) A practical examination of the errors arising in the direct collocation boundary element method of acoustic scattering, Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 33, 1302-1315 Download PDF file

Treeby BE, Cox BT, Zhang EZ, Patch SK, Beard PC (2009) Measurement of broadband temperature-dependent ultrasonic attenuation and dispersion using photoacoustics, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasound, Ferroelectrics and frequency control 56(8), 1666-1676 Download PDF file

Morris P, Hurrell A, Shaw A, Zhang E, Beard P (2009) A Fabry–Pérot fiber-optic ultrasonic hydrophone for the simultaneous measurement of temperature and acoustic pressure, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 125(6), 3611-3622 Download PDF file

Cox BT, Arridge SR, Beard PC, (2009) Estimating chromophore distributions from multiwavelength photoacoustic images, Journal of the Optical Society of America A, 26(2), 443-445. Download PDF file

Cox BT, Beard PC (2009) Photoacoustic tomography with a single detector in a reverberant cavity, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 25(3), 1426-1436. Download PDF here

Zhang EZ, Laufer JG, Pedley RB, Beard PC (2009) In vivo high-resolution 3D photoacoustic imaging of superficial vascular anatomy, Physics in Medicine and Biology, 54, 1035-1046. Download PDF file

Laufer J, Zhang E, Raivich G, Beard P (2009) Three-dimensional noninvasive imaging of the vasculature in the mouse brain using a high resolution photoacoustic scanner, Applied Optics, 48(10), D299-D306.
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Zhang, E, Laufer, J, Beard, P (2008): Backward-mode multiwavelength photoacoustic scanner using a planar Fabry-Perot polymer film ultrasound sensor for high-resolution three-dimensional imaging of biological tissues, Applied Optics 47, 561-577. Download PDF file

Cox BT, Arridge SR, Beard PC (2007) Photoacoustic tomography with a limited-aperture planar sensor and a reverberant cavity, 23, S95-S112. Download PDF file

Laufer JG, Delpy DT, Elwell CE, Beard PC, (2007) Quantitative spatially resolved measurement of tissue chromophore concentrations using photoacoustic spectroscopy: application to the measurement of blood oxygenation and haemoglobin concentration, Physics in Medicine and Biology, 52, pp141168, 2007.
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For a full list of publications, click here