Three-dimensional modeling of the transducer shape in acoustic resolution optoacoustic microscopy

Acoustic resolution optoacoustic microscopy is a powerful modality allowing imaging morphology and function at depths up to a few centimeters in biological tissues. This optoacoustic configuration is based on a spherically-focused ultrasonic transducer raster scanned on an accessible side of the sample to be imaged. Volumetric images can then be formed by stacking up the recorded time-resolved signals at the measured locations. However, the focusing capacity of a spherically-focused transducer depends on its aperture and the acoustic spectrum of the collected signals, which may lead to image artifacts if a simplistic reconstruction approach is employed. In this work, we make use of a model-based reconstruction procedure developed in three dimensions in order to account for the shape of spherically focused transducers in acoustic resolution optoacoustic microscopy set-ups. By discretizing the transducer shape to a set of sub-sensors, the resulting model incorporates the frequency-dependent transducer sensitivity for acquisition of broadband optoacoustic signals. Inversion of the full model incorporating the effects of the transducer shape is then performed iteratively. The obtained results indicate good performance of the method for absorbers of different size emitting optoacoustic waves with different frequency spectra.