Second generation optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy

We developed a second-generation optical-resolution photoacoustic microscope (OR-PAM) with a novel acoustic detection scheme, which improved upon the sensitivity of our first-generation system by 18 dB. Moreover, translating the imaging head instead of the living object improved the scanning speed by a factor of 5, widening the field of view within the same acquisition time. The anatomy and hemoglobin oxygen saturation of an entire mouse ear was imaged in vivo.