Hybrid ultrahigh resolution optical coherence / photoacoustic microscopy

We present an ultrahigh resolution dual modality optical resolution photoacoustic microsopy (OR-PAM) and spectral domain optical coherence microscopy (SD-OCM) system. The ultrahigh sub-micron lateral resolution is provided by the high numerical aperture of the objective lens used while the ultrahigh axial resolution is provided by the broadband OCT laser that covers 107 nm with a central wavelength of 840 nm. The synchronized simultaneous acquisition for the two modalities is achieved using a 40MHz FPGA. 2D-scanning is realized by two orthogonal translation stages (PI, 400 nm resolution). The transversal resolution of the system is 0.5 μm, the axial resolutions are 30 μm (PAM) and 4 μm (OCM), respectively. The values have been determined experimentally using nanospheres (diameter 10-200nm). For a demonstration of the imaging capability we present images from thin slices of different biological samples as well as in vivo imaging in the zebrafish embryo.