公开(公告)号：US20200205670A1

公开(公告)日：2020-07-02

申请号：US16728844

申请日：2019-12-27

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Tyler S. Ralston ,  Murad Omar ,  Lawrence C. West ,  Jonathan M. Rothberg

IPC: A61B5/00

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are provided for photoacoustic imaging. One such apparatus may include an ultrasound-on-a-chip device attached to a housing, an optical emitter attached to the housing, and a controller enclosed at least partially in the housing. The ultrasound-on-a-chip device may include a plurality of ultrasonic transducers. The optical emitter may include an array of diodes arranged at a periphery of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. The controller may be configured to control the optical emitter to emit pulses of light, to control the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to detect ultrasonic waves emitted from a target to be imaged in response to exposure to the pulses of light, and to convert the ultrasonic waves to digital signals. For example, the optical emitter may be controlled to emit chirped optical pulses. The digital signals may be processed by the controller to produce image-formation data.