Ultrasound-modulated optical computed tomography of biological tissues

An optical imaging technique called ultrasound-modulated optical computed tomography is demonstrated for tomographic imaging of biological tissues. Ultrasound-modulated optical signals are extracted from scattered light to provide projection data for the image reconstruction. A filtered back-projection algorithm is implemented to reconstruct an image reflecting optical tissue properties from angular and linear scans of an ultrasonic beam across a sample. This reconstruction-based imaging technique provides a way to obtain images of cross sections containing the scanned ultrasonic axis in biological tissues, which enables three-dimensional ultrasound-modulated optical imaging. The technique combines the contrast advantage of optical waves and the resolution advantage of ultrasonic waves. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.