Three-dimensional optoacoustic tomography at video rate.

Using optoacoustic excitation, a complete volumetric tomographic data sets from the imaged object can in principle be generated with a single interrogating laser pulse. Thus, optoacoustic imaging intrinsically has the potential for fast three-dimensional imaging. We have developed a system capable of acquiring volumetric optoacoustic data in real time and showcase in this work the undocumented capacity to generate high resolution three-dimensional optoacoustic images at a rate of 10 Hz, currently mainly limited by the pulse repetition rate of the excitation laser.