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We report on the simultaneous and localized measurements of the diffusion coefficient and flow velocity based on the normalized autocorrelation function using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Our results on a flowing solution of polystyrene spheres show that the flow velocity and the diffusion coefficient can be reliably estimated in a regime determined by the sample diffusivity, the local flow velocity, and the Gaussian beam waist. We experimentally show that a smaller beam waist results in an improvement of the velocity sensitivity at cost of the precision and accuracy of the estimation of the diffusion coefficient. Further, we show that the decay of the OCT autocorrelation due to flow depends only on the Gaussian beam waist irrespective of the sample position with respect to the focus position.

We have calculated ac polarizabilities of the $2 \ ^3S$ and $2 \ ^1S$ states of both $^4$He and $^3$He in the range 318 nm to 2.5 $\mu$m and determined the magic wavelengths at which these polarizabilities are equal for either isotope. The calculations, only based on available ab initio tables of level energies and Einstein A coefficients, do not require advanced theoretical techniques. The polarizability contribution of the continuum is calculated using a simple extrapolation beyond the ionization limit, yet the results agree to better than 1% with such advanced techniques. Several promising magic wavelengths are identified around 320 nm with sufficient accuracy to design an appropriate laser system. The extension of the calculations to $^3$He is complicated due to the additional hyperfine structure, but we show that the magic wavelength candidates around 320 nm are predominantly shifted by the isotope shift., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

Currently, gold nanorods can be synthesized in a wide range of sizes. However, for intended biological applications gold nanorods with approximate dimensions 50 nm x 15 nm are used. We investigate by computer simulation the effect of particle dimensions on the optical and thermal properties in the context of the specific applications of photoacoustic imaging. In addition we discuss the influence of particle size in overcoming the following biophysical barriers when administrated in vivo: extravasation, avoidance of uptake by organs of the reticuloendothelial system, penetration through the interstitium, binding capability and uptake by the target cells. Although more complex biological influences can be introduced in future analysis, the present work illustrates that larger gold nanorods, designated by us as "nanobig rods", may perform relatively better at meeting the requirements for successful in vivo applications compared to their smaller counterparts which are conventionally used.

Photoacoustic imaging has proven to be able to detect vascularization-driven optical absorption contrast associated with tumors. In order to detect breast tumors located a few centimeter deep in tissue, a sensitive ultrasound detector is of crucial importance for photoacoustic mammography. Further, because the expected photoacoustic frequency bandwidth (a few MHz to tens of kHz) is inversely proportional to the dimensions of light absorbing structures (0.5 to 10+ mm), proper choices of materials and their geometries, and proper considerations in design have to be made for optimal photoacoustic detectors. In this study, we design and evaluate a specialized ultrasound detector for photoacoustic mammography. Based on the required detector sensitivity and its frequency response, a selection of active material and matching layers and their geometries is made leading to a functional detector models. By iteration between simulation of detector performances, fabrication and experimental characterization of functional models an optimized implementation is made and evaluated. The experimental results of the designed first and second functional detectors matched with the simulations. In subsequent bare piezoelectric samples the effect of lateral resonances was addressed and their influence minimized by sub-dicing the samples. Consequently, using simulations, the final optimized detector could be designed, with a center frequency of 1 MHz and a -6 dB bandwidth of ~80%. The minimum detectable pressure was measured to be 0.5 Pa, which will facilitate deeper imaging compared to the currrent systems. The detector should be capable of detecting vascularized tumors with resolution of 1-2 mm. Further improvements by proper electrical grounding and shielding and implementation of this design into an arrayed detector will pave the way for clinical applications of photoacoustic mammography., Comment: Accepted for publication in Medical Physics (American Association of Physicists in Medicine)

In most photoacoustic (PA) measurements, variations in speed-of-sound (SOS) of the subject are neglected under the assumption of acoustic homogeneity. Biological tissue with spatially heterogeneous SOS cannot be accurately reconstructed under this assumption. We present experimental and image reconstruction methods with which 2-D SOS distributions can be accurately acquired and reconstructed, and with which the SOS map can be used subsequently to reconstruct highly accurate PA tomograms. We begin with a 2-D iterative reconstruction approach in an ultrasound transmission tomography (UTT) setting, which uses ray refracted paths instead of straight ray paths to recover accurate SOS images of the subject. Subsequently, we use the SOS distribution in a new 2-D iterative approach, where refraction of rays originating from PA sources are accounted for in accurately retrieving the distribution of these sources. Both the SOS reconstruction and SOS-compensated PA reconstruction methods utilize the Eikonal equation to model acoustic wavefront propagation, which is solved using a high accuracy fast marching method (HAFMM). We validate the new reconstruction algorithms using numerical phantoms. For experiments we use the PER-PACT method which can be used to simultaneously acquire SOS and PA data from subjects. We test the reconstruction algorithms using experimental data acquired with the PER-PACT setup from challenging physical phantoms. The results show that it is important to take SOS inhomogeneities into account. The iterative reconstruction algorithms, that model acoustic refractive effects, yield artifact-free highly accurate images. Our approach of using the hybrid measurement method and the new reconstruction algorithms, is successful in substantially improving the quality of PA images with a minimization of blurring and artefacts., Comment: Accepted Medical Physics (American Association of Physicists in Medicine). Date of submission 28 May 2012; date of acceptance 15 October 2012