A low noise,  wideband signal receiver for photoacoustic microscopy

Wonkook Han; Ju-Young Moon; Sunghun Park; Jin Ho Chang

doi:10.7776/ASK.2022.41.5.507

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2022 Vol.41, Issue 5 Preview Page Next Page

Research Article

A low noise, wideband signal receiver for photoacoustic microscopy 광음향 현미경 영상을 위한 저잡음 광대역 수신 시스템

30 September 2022. pp. 507-517

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Abstract

The PhotoAcoustic Microscopy (PAM) has been proved to be a useful tool for biological and medical applications due to its high spatial and contrast resolution. PAM is based on transmission of laser pulses and reception of PA signals. Since the strength of PA signals is generally low, not only are high-performance optical and acoustic modules required, but high-performance electronics for imaging are also particularly needed for high-quality PAM imaging. Most PAM systems are implemented with a combination of several pieces of equipment commercially available to receive, amplify, enhance, and digitize PA signals. To this end, PAM systems are inevitably bulky and not optimal because general purpose equipment is used. This paper reports a PA signal receiving system recently developed to attain the capability of improved Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR) of PAM images; the main module of this system is a low noise, wideband signal receiver that consists of two low-noise amplifiers, two variable gain amplifiers, analog filters, an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC), and control logic. From phantom imaging experiments, it was found that the developed system can improve SNR by 6.7 dB and CNR by 3 dB, compared to a combination of several pieces of commercially available equipment.

Keywords

PhotoAcoustic Microscopy (PAM)

Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR)

Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)

Variable gain amplification

Low noise gain amplification

광음향 현미경은 높은 공간 해상도와 높은 대조도를 갖는 영상을 제공할 수 있어 생명과학 연구와 의료응용에 있어 유용하다. 광음향 현미경은 레이저 펄스 송신 후 생체조직에서 발생하는 광음향 신호를 수신하여 영상을 구성한다. 일반적으로 광음향 신호의 크기는 작기 때문에, 고품질의 광음향 현미경 영상을 얻기 위해서는 고성능의 광학 및 음향 모듈과 더불어 신호 수신용 고성능 시스템이 필요하다. 그러나 대부분의 광음향 현미경 시스템은 광음향 신호의 수신, 증폭, 품질향상, 디지털화를 위해 여러 상용 장비의 조합으로 구성된다. 이러한 이유로 광음향 현미경은 부피가 클 수밖에 없으며, 최적의 성능을 제공하기 어렵다. 본 논문에서는 향상된 신호 대 잡음비와 대조도를 제공할 수 있는 광음향 수신 시스템의 구조를 제안하고 성능 평가 결과를 제시한다. 개발한 저잡음 광대역 광음향 신호 수신 시스템은 두개의 저잡음 증폭기, 두 개의 가변 이득 증폭기, 아날로그 필터, 아날로그 디지털 변환기, 그리고 디지털 제어 로직으로 구성되어 있다. 개발된 시스템의 영상 성능은 생체 모사 혈관 팬텀, 와이어 타겟 팬텀 영상 실험을 통하여 상용 신호 수신 시스템의 성능과 비교하여 평가하였다. 영상 비교 실험을 통해 개발한 광음향 현미경 시스템이 상용 장비 보다 신호 대 잡음비는 6.7 dB 이상 높았고, 영상의 대조도는 3 dB 이상 높다는 것을 확인하였다.

키워드

광음향 현미경

대조도

신호 대 잡음비

가변 이득 증폭기

저잡음 증폭기

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Information

Publisher :The Acoustical Society of Korea
Publisher(Ko) :한국음향학회
Journal Title :The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
Journal Title(Ko) :한국음향학회지
Volume : 41
No :5
Pages :507-517
Received Date : 2022-07-20
Revised Date : 2022-09-07
Accepted Date : 2022-09-22
DOI :https://doi.org/10.7776/ASK.2022.41.5.507

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of KoreaISSN:1225-4428(Print) 2287-3775(Online)한국음향학회

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