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However, as the axial (in the direction of the beam) resolution of the ultrasound is far better than the transverse, the tracking ability is less in the transverse direction. Also, the transverse resolution (and hence, tracking ability) decreases with depth, in a sector scan where ultrasound beams diverge.
An ultrasonic transducer with high central frequency and broader bandwidth are chosen to obtain high axial resolution. The lateral resolution is determined by the focal diameter of the transducer. For instance, a 50 MHz ultrasonic transducer provides 15 micrometre axial and 45 micrometre lateral resolution with ~3 mm imaging depth.
The axial resolution of the system can be improved by using a wider bandwidth ultrasound transducer as long as the bandwidth matches that of the photoacoustic signal. The lateral resolution of photoacoustic microscopy depends on the optical and acoustic foci of the system.
The notion of acoustic microscopy dates back to 1936 when S. Ya. Sokolov [1] proposed a device for producing magnified views of structure with 3-GHz sound waves. However, due to technological limitations at the time, no such instrument could be constructed, and it was not until 1959 that Dunn and Fry [2] performed the first acoustic microscopy experiments, though not at very high frequencies.
A-scan ultrasound biometry, commonly referred to as an A-scan (short for Amplitude scan), uses an ultrasound instrument for diagnostic testing. [1] A-scan biometry measures the axial length (AL) of the eye prior to cataract surgery in order to assess the refractive power of the intraocular lens that will be implanted.
In ultrasound systems, lateral resolution is usually much lower than the axial resolution. The poor lateral resolution in the B-mode image also results in poor lateral resolution in flow estimation. Therefore, sub pixel resolution is needed to improve the accuracy of the estimation in the lateral dimension.
In fluorescence microscopy the excitation and emission are typically on different wavelengths. In total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy a thin portion of the sample located immediately on the cover glass is excited with an evanescent field, and recorded with a conventional diffraction-limited objective, improving the axial resolution.
This choice of frequency band dictates whether the imaging will be in the macroscopic regime, involving resolution of 100-500 microns and penetration depth >10 mm, or mesoscopic range, involving resolution of 1-50 microns and penetration depth <10 mm. [1] [6] Microscopic resolution is also possible using multi-spectral optoacoustics.