AMPLITUDE-MASKED PHOTOACOUSTIC WAVEFRONT SHAPING: THEORY AND APPLICATION IN FLOWMETRY

Optical diffusion in scattering media prevents focusing beyond shallow depths, causing optical imaging and sensing to suffer from low optical intensities, resulting in low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). Here, we demonstrate focusing using a fast binary-amplitude digital micromirror device to characterize the transmission modes of the scattering medium. We then identify and selectively illuminate the transmission modes which contribute constructively to the intensity at the optical focus. Applying this method to photoacoustic flowmetry, we increased the optical intensity at the focus six-fold, and showed that the corresponding increase in SNR allows particle flow to be measured.