Photoacoustic apparatus
First Claim
1. A photoacoustic apparatus comprising:
- a light source which irradiates an inspection target with pulsed light;
a detector having a plurality of transducer elements, each of which detects an acoustic wave generated due to irradiating the inspection target with the pulsed light and outputs a detection signal;
a light-quantity measurement unit which measures a quantity of the pulsed light output from the light source; and
a signal processor which obtains information on an inside of the inspection target by processing a plurality of detection signals output from the plurality of transducer elements,wherein the signal processor includes a signal correction unit which corrects the plurality of detection signals based on the quantity of the pulsed light measured by the light-quantity measurement unit so that variations in intensities of the plurality of detection signals, caused by a temporal change in the quantity of the pulsed light output from the light source, are suppressed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In a photoacoustic apparatus, a light source irradiates an inspection target with pulsed light; a detector detects acoustic waves generated in the inspection target due to interaction of the pulsed light with the inspection target, and outputs detection signals corresponding to the detected acoustic waves; a light-quantity measurement unit measures the quantity of the light output from the light source; and a signal processor obtains information on an inside of the inspection target by using the detection signals output from the detector. The signal processor also corrects intensities of the detection signals so as to suppress variations in intensities of the detection signals caused by a temporal change in the quantity of the light.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A photoacoustic apparatus comprising:
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a light source which irradiates an inspection target with pulsed light; a detector having a plurality of transducer elements, each of which detects an acoustic wave generated due to irradiating the inspection target with the pulsed light and outputs a detection signal; a light-quantity measurement unit which measures a quantity of the pulsed light output from the light source; and a signal processor which obtains information on an inside of the inspection target by processing a plurality of detection signals output from the plurality of transducer elements, wherein the signal processor includes a signal correction unit which corrects the plurality of detection signals based on the quantity of the pulsed light measured by the light-quantity measurement unit so that variations in intensities of the plurality of detection signals, caused by a temporal change in the quantity of the pulsed light output from the light source, are suppressed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A photoacoustic apparatus comprising:
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a light source which irradiates an inspection target with pulsed light; a detector having a plurality of transducer elements, each of which detects an acoustic wave generated due to irradiating the inspection target with the pulsed light and outputs an analog signal; a light-quantity measurement unit which measures a quantity of the pulsed light output from the light source; and a signal processor which includes an A/D converter which converts a plurality of analog signals output from the plurality of transducer elements into a plurality of digital signals and an image reconstruction processor which performs image reconstruction, wherein the signal processor includes a signal correction unit which corrects the plurality of digital signals based on the quantity of the pulsed light measured by the light-quantity measurement unit so that variations in the intensities of the plurality of digital signals, caused by a temporal change in the quantity of the pulsed light output from the light source, are suppressed, and wherein the image reconstruction processor obtains image reconstruction data by performing image reconstruction using output signals from the signal correction unit. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A photoacoustic apparatus comprising:
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a light source which irradiates an inspection target with pulsed light; a detector having a plurality of transducer elements, each of which detects an acoustic wave generated due to irradiating the inspection target with the pulsed light and outputs a detection signal; and a signal processor which obtains information on an inside of the inspection target by processing a plurality of detection signals output from the plurality of transducer elements, wherein the signal processor includes a signal correction unit which corrects the plurality of detection signals so that variations in intensities of the plurality of detection signals, caused by a temporal change in the quantity of light output from the light source, are suppressed, and wherein the signal processor includes an image reconstruction processor which obtains image reconstruction data in three-dimensional space by performing image reconstruction on the plurality of detection signals corrected by the signal correction unit, obtains an intensity distribution of the pulsed light in three-dimensional space inside the inspection target based on light attenuation inside the inspection target, and obtains the information on the inside of the inspection target in three-dimensional space using the image reconstruction data in three-dimensional space and the intensity distribution of the pulsed light in three-dimensional space inside the inspection target. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A method of performing photoacoustic imagining, comprising:
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irradiating an inspection target with pulsed light emitted from a light source; obtaining, using a detector having a plurality of transducer elements, a plurality of detection signals by detecting with each transducer element an acoustic wave generated due to irradiating the inspection target with the pulsed light at a plurality of positions; and processing the plurality of detection signals with a signal processor, the processing comprises; obtaining a plurality of corrected detection signals by correcting the plurality of detection signals so that variations in intensities of the plurality of detection signals, caused by a temporal change in a quantity of the pulsed light, are suppressed; obtaining information on an inside of the inspection target by processing the plurality of corrected detection signals, obtaining image reconstruction data in three-dimensional space by performing image reconstruction on the plurality of corrected detection signals; obtaining an intensity distribution of the pulsed light in three-dimensional space inside the inspection target based on light attenuation inside the inspection target; and obtaining the information on the inside of the inspection target in three-dimensional space using the image reconstruction data in three-dimensional space and the intensity distribution of the pulsed light in three-dimensional space inside the inspection target. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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Specification