Photoacoustics Waveform Design for Optimal Signal to Noise Ratio

Abstract

Time-frequency analysis in waveform engineering can be applied to many detection and imaging systems, such as radar, sonar, and ultrasound to improve their Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR). Recently, photoacoustic imaging systems have attracted researchers’ attention. However, the SNR optimization problem for photoacoustic systems has not been fully addressed. In this paper, the one-dimensional SNR optimization of the photoacoustic response to an input waveform with finite duration and energy was considered. This paper applied an eigenfunction optimization approach to find the waveform for optimal SNR for various photoacoustic absorber profiles. SNR gains via the obtained optimal waveform were compared with simple square-pulse and pulsed sinusoidal waveforms in simulations. Results showed that by using the optimal waveform, SNR can be enhanced especially if the input wave duration is comparable with the absorber time profile duration. The optimal waveforms can achieve 5%–10% higher SNR than square pulses and over 100% higher SNR compared with pulsed sinusoids. The symmetry between time and frequency domains assures similar behavior when temporal durations of the input waveforms are too short or too long compared with the absorber.