All-optical optoacoustic microscope based on wideband pulse interferometry

Optical and optoacoustic (photoacoustic) microscopy have been recently joined in hybrid implementations that resolve extended tissue contrast compared to each modality alone. Nevertheless, the application of the hybrid technique is limited by the requirement to combine an optical objective with ultrasound detection collecting signal from the same micro-volume. We present an all-optical optoacoustic microscope based on a pi-phase-shifted fiber Bragg grating (π-FBG) with coherence-restored pulsed interferometry (CRPI) used as the interrogation method. The sensor offers an ultra-small footprint and achieved higher sensitivity over piezoelectric transducers of similar size. We characterize the spectral bandwidth of the ultrasound detector and interrogate the imaging performance on phantoms and tissues. We show the first optoacoustic images of biological specimen recorded with π-FBG sensors. We discuss the potential uses of π-FBG sensors based on CRPI.