Feasibility of an ultra-compact, wireless ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging system (wUS-PA)

(Clarius) to operate as a dual-mode US and PA imaging system. A compact pulsed laser diode was used as an illumination source to study the feasibility of wUS-PA imaging. The designed wUS-PA system was characterized by various phantom experiments to quantify spatial resolution, sensitivity, imaging depth, and frame rate. For a 4-cm imaging depth, the system can image up to 17 frames/second with 150 µm and 300 µm axial and lateral resolution, respectively. The PA imaging depth in chicken tissue was ~2 cm.