Development of GHz optoacoustic lenses for lateral super resolution imaging

This abstract describes a potential method to improve the lateral resolution of Phonon microscopy, a novel noninvasive elasticity imaging microscopy for 3D cell imaging by measuring the time-resolved Brillouin scattering signal. While this technique provides sub-optical axial resolution, the lateral resolution is limited by the optical system that generates the coherent phonon fields. To overcome this limitation, the authors suggest using novel optoacoustic lenses working in GHz frequencies to focus the laser generated coherent phonon fields and thus obtain true acoustic resolution in both axial and lateral dimensions. These lenses can be fabricated at the nanoscale and can also be compatible with ultrasonic endoscopic imaging systems in further applications.