Yang, XinmaiLi, Meng-LinWang, Lihong V.2015-11-302015-11-302007Yang, Xinmai, Meng-Lin Li, and Lihong V. Wang. "Ring-based Ultrasonic Virtual Point Detector with Applications to Photoacoustic Tomography." Appl. Phys. Lett. Applied Physics Letters 90.25 (2007): 251103. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.2749856https://hdl.handle.net/1808/18991This is the published version. Copyright © 2007 American Institute of PhysicsAn ultrasonic virtual point detector is constructed using the center of a ring transducer. The virtual point detector provides ideal omnidirectional detection free of any aperture effect. Compared with a real point detector, the virtual one has lower thermal noise and can be scanned with its center inside a physically inaccessible medium. When applied to photoacoustictomography, the virtual point detector provides both high spatial resolution and high signal-to-noise ratio. It can also be potentially applied to other ultrasound-related technologies.Image sensorsMedical image noiseSpatial resolutionUltrasonicsPhotoacoustic imagingArticle10.1063/1.2749856openAccess