Noncontact broadband all-optical photoacoustic microscopy based on a low-coherence interferometer

We developed and fabricated a noncontact broadband all-optical photoacoustic microscopy (BD-AO-PAM) with a microchip laser and an all-fiber low coherence interferometer. Currently, the available detection bandwidth of the BD-AO-PAM is 67 MHz, and the lateral resolution measured by carbon fibers reaches 11 μm. Furthermore, the imaging capability of the BD-AO-PAM was testified by imaging hairs embedded in scattering gel and in vivo blood vessels of a mouse ear. The experimental results demonstrate that the BD-AO-PAM can image the tissues with high spatial resolution in vivo, which can be used as portable noncontact PAM for biomedical applications.