Design of near-infrared imaging probe with the assistance of ultrasound localization

A total of 364 optical source–detector pairs were deployed uniformly over a 9 cm × 9 cm probe area initially, and then the total pairs were reduced gradually to 60 in experimental and simulation studies. For each source–detector configuration, three-dimensional (3-D) images of a 1-cm-diameter absorber of different contrasts were reconstructed from the measurements made with a frequency-domain system. The results have shown that more than 160 source–detector pairs are needed to reconstruct the absorption coefficient to within 60% of the true value and appropriate spatial and contrast resolution. However, the error in target depth estimated from 3-D images was more than 1 cm in all source–detector configurations. With the a priori target depth information provided by ultrasound, the accuracy of the reconstructed absorption coefficient was improved by 15% and 30% on average, and the beam width was improved by 24% and 41% on average for high- and low-contrast cases, respectively. The speed of reconstruction was improved by ten times on average.