Point-spread functions for acousto-photonic imaging

Summary form only given. The authors are developing a medical imaging technique in which diffusive photon density waves are mixed with ultrasound waves to produce images in diffusive media with the detection capabilities of optical instruments and the resolution capability of ultrasound. In the simplest concept, sidebands of the photon density waves are generated at the focus of the ultrasound wave. Here, the authors report the results of a simulation program that computes the three-dimensional point-spread function (PSF) of the system. They show that while most of the signal arises from the ultrasound focus, the shape of the PSF depends significantly on the location of the optical receiver.