Development And Application Of Fibre-Laser Based Excitation Sources For Biomedical Photoacoustic Imaging

Lead Research Organisation: University of Southampton
Department Name: Optoelectronics Research Ctr (closed)

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
 
Description This project involved the development of high energy pulsed fibre lasers capable of delivering an order or magnitude increase in pulse energy relative to existing fibre laser systems and then to prove/develop their application in photoacoustic medical imaging working with our project partners at UCL. Key findings of the research include: (1) The development of new methods to produce large core fibres - achieving the large core sizes needed in this project proved highly challenging nevertheless we ultimately succeeded both to realise those internally and to secure earlier access to samples through collaboration with an Indian institute (CGCRI in Kolkata) (2) Exploitation of pulsed pumping to allow high energy pulsed laser operation at low frequencies; (3) New strategies to manage mode quality/polarisation in large core optical fibres; (4) Means to achieve greater than10mJ pulse energies for shaped optical pulses; (5) High (0.5-1MHz) repetition rate 2nd and 3rd harmonic generation from a fibre laser giving sufficient pulse energies for high resolution imaging applications; (6) Fibre lasers can be successfully used to obtain photoacoustic images in-vivo, including video images of blood flow.
Exploitation Route Our results should ultimately be of use in realising compact photoacoustic imaging systems, as well as across a range of laser based manufacturing applications (which we are exploring with the Institute for Manufacturing at Cambridge). Our connections with SPI Lasers Ltd represents a potential pathway to realising this impact once the benefits of the technology are robustly demonstrated. In addition, the credibility that we established in the medical community has helped us to secure involvement in a major medical imaging project (see the funding section of this report for further details). We are also discussing supplying a high energy fibre laser to the Rosalind Franklin institute to enable wider use of the technology in imaging applications.
Sectors Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Environment,Healthcare,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology
 
Description EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships: Transformative Imaging for Quantitative Biology (TIQBio) Partnership
Amount £2,134,258 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/V038036/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 06/2021 
End 05/2025
 
Description Lighting the Way to a Healthy Nation - Optical 'X-rays' for Walk Through Diagnosis & Therapy
Amount £5,577,754 (GBP)
Funding ID EP/T020997/1 
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2020 
End 05/2025
 
Description Collaboration UCL Medical Department 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Development of a laser for photoacoustic medical imaging.
Collaborator Contribution Demonstration of photoacoustic medical imaging using a fibre laser.
Impact Publishable research results still being collected.
Start Year 2011
 
Description Collaboration on industrial materials processing with Cambridge University 
Organisation University of Cambridge
Department Institute for Manufacturing
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Provision of a spatio-temporal pulsed laser for testing light matter interactions and ultimately for laser materials processing trials.
Collaborator Contribution Provision of an stroboscopic imaging system to measure the interaction of a single pulse with a material surface. Expertise on laser processing opportunities and access to associated characterisation technology/end users.
Impact Initial experiments still in train.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Collaboration with the Institute for Life Sciences (University of Southampton - Prof. Sumeet Mahajan) in the area of multimodal medical imaging using fibre lasers 
Organisation University of Southampton
Department Institute for Life Sciences
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Development of optical fibres and fibre laser sources for biomedical imaging, supervision of a joint PhD student (funded 50:50 by the Optoelectronics Research Centre/Institute for Life Sciences)
Collaborator Contribution Lab access, imaging experiments on biological/phantom structures, data interpretation and design of experiments/target setting, joint PhD supervision).
Impact Academic papers in press. The collaboration is strongly multidisciplinary (Photonics/Life Sciences).
Start Year 2016
 
Description Large Core Fibre Fabrication with CGCRI, India 
Organisation Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute
Department Fibre Fabrication Division
Country India 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution Design and specification of large core fibres. Characterisation then laser test of fibres.
Collaborator Contribution Fabrication and characterisation of large core ytterbium doped fibres.
Impact Joint paper under consideration for CLEO 2016 conference.
Start Year 2014