Comparing free-space and fiber-coupled detectors for Fabry-Pérot-based all-optical photoacoustic tomography

• Main Authors: Czuchnowski, J. (Author), Prevedel, R. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: NLM (Medline) 2022
• Subjects: detectors; Fabry–Perot; fiber applications; imaging; photoacoustics; tomography
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 SIGNIFICANCE: Highly sensitive detection is crucial for all-optical photoacoustic (PA) imaging. However, free-space optical detectors are prone to optical aberrations, which can degrade the pressure sensitivity and result in deteriorated image quality. While spatial mode-filtering has been proposed to alleviate these problems in Fabry-Pérot-based pressure sensors, their real functional advantage has never been properly investigated. AIM: We rigorously and quantitatively compare the performance of free-space and fiber-coupled detectors for Fabry-Pérot-based pressure sensors. APPROACH: We develop and characterize a quantitative correlative setup capable of simultaneous PA imaging using a free space and a fiber-coupled detector. RESULTS: We found that fiber-coupled detectors are superior in terms of both signal level and image quality in realistic all-optical PA tomography settings. CONCLUSIONS: Our study has important practical implications in the field of PA imaging, as for most applications and implementations fiber-coupled detectors are relatively easy to employ since they do not require modifications to the core of the system but only to the peripherally located detector.