ABSTRACT
The ability to in vivo image microstructures of biological tissue with high resolution at desired penetration depth is critically important for the early diagnosis of diseases. A promising technique to accomplish this objective is photoacoustic microscopy (PAM], Compared with current high-resolution optical imaging techniques such as confocal microscopy and optical coherence tomography (OCT), in which the imaging depth is limited to approximately one transport mean free path (1-2 mm] in biological tissues, PAM has the ability to image deeper because it utilizes not only ballistic but also diffusive photons. Thus, microstructures such as micrangium then can be imaged by PAM with high optical contrast and high-resolution.
