Image reconstruction in transcranial photoacoustic computed tomography of the brain

Photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) holds great promise for transcranial brain imaging. However, the strong reflection, scattering, attenuation, and mode-conversion of photoacoustic waves in the skull pose serious challenges to establishing the method. The lack of an appropriate model of solid media in conventional PACT imaging models, which are based on the canonical scalar wave equation, causes a significant model mismatch in the presence of the skull and thus results in deteriorated reconstructed images. The goal of this study was to develop an image reconstruction algorithm that accurately models the skull and thereby ameliorates the quality of reconstructed images. The propagation of photoacoustic waves through the skull was modeled by a viscoelastic stress tensor wave equation, which was subsequently discretized by use of a staggered grid fourth-order finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The matched adjoint of the FDTD-based wave propagation operator was derived for implementing a back-projection operator. Systematic computer simulations were conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the back-projection operator for reconstructing images in a realistic three-dimensional PACT brain imaging system. The results suggest that the proposed algorithm can successfully reconstruct images from transcranially-measured pressure data and readily be translated to clinical PACT brain imaging applications

A Forward-Adjoint Operator Pair Based on the Elastic Wave Equation for Use in Transcranial Photoacoustic Computed Tomography

Photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) is an emerging imaging modality that exploits optical contrast and ultrasonic detection principles to form images of the photoacoustically induced initial pressure distribution within tissue. The PACT reconstruction problem corresponds to an inverse source problem in which the initial pressure distribution is recovered from measurements of the radiated wavefield. A major challenge in transcranial PACT brain imaging is compensation for aberrations in the measured data due to the presence of the skull. Ultrasonic waves undergo absorption, scattering, and longitudinal-to-shear wave mode conversion as they propagate through the skull. To properly account for these effects, a wave-equation-based inversion method should be employed that can model the heterogeneous elastic properties of the skull. In this work, a forward model based on a finite-difference time-domain discretization of the three-dimensional elastic wave equation is established and a procedure for computing the corresponding adjoint of the forward operator is presented. Massively parallel implementations of these operators employing multiple graphics processing units are also developed. The developed numerical framework is validated and investigated in computer-simulation and experimental phantom studies whose designs are motivated by transcranial PACT applications

Iterative image reconstruction in elastic inhomogenous media with application to transcranial photoacoustic tomography

Photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) is an emerging computed imaging modality that exploits optical contrast and ultrasonic detection principles to form images of the photoacoustically induced initial pressure distribution within tissue. The PACT reconstruction problem corresponds to a time-domain inverse source problem, where the initial pressure distribution is recovered from the measurements recorded on an aperture outside the support of the source. A major challenge in transcranial PACT brain imaging is to compensate for aberrations in the measured data due to the propagation of the photoacoustic wavefields through the skull. To properly account for these effects, a wave equation-based inversion method should be employed that can model the heterogeneous elastic properties of the medium. In this study, an iterative image reconstruction method for 3D transcranial PACT is developed based on the elastic wave equation. To accomplish this, a forward model based on a finite-difference time-domain discretization of the elastic wave equation is established. Subsequently, gradient-based methods are employed for computing penalized least squares estimates of the initial source distribution that produced the measured photoacoustic data. The developed reconstruction algorithm is validated and investigated through computer-simulation studies

Hubbard band or oxygen vacancy states in the correlated electron metal SrVO3_3?

We study the effect of oxygen vacancies on the electronic structure of the model strongly correlated metal SrVO$_3$. By means of angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) synchrotron experiments, we investigate the systematic effect of the UV dose on the measured spectra. We observe the onset of a spurious dose-dependent prominent peak at an energy range were the lower Hubbard band has been previously reported in this compound, raising questions on its previous interpretation. By a careful analysis of the dose dependent effects we succeed in disentangling the contributions coming from the oxygen vacancy states and from the lower Hubbard band. We obtain the intrinsic ARPES spectrum for the zero-vacancy limit, where a clear signal of a lower Hubbard band remains. We support our study by means of state-of-the-art ab initio calculations that include correlation effects and the presence of oxygen vacancies. Our results underscore the relevance of potential spurious states affecting ARPES experiments in correlated metals, which are associated to the ubiquitous oxygen vacancies as extensively reported in the context of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the surface of insulating $d^0$ transition metal oxides.Comment: Manuscript + Supplemental Material, 12 pages, 9 figure