Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is a novel modality that can visualize blood vessels without contrast agents. It clearly shows blood vessels near the body surface. However, these vessels obstruct the observation of deep blood vessels. As the existence range of each vessel is determined by the distance from the body surface, they can be separated if the position of the skin is known. However, skin tissue, which does not contain hemoglobin, does not appear in PAT results, therefore, manual estimation is required. As this task is very labor-intensive, its automation is highly desirable. Therefore, we developed a method to estimate the body surface using the cloth-simulation technique, which is a commonly used method to create computer graphics (CG) animations; however, it has not yet been employed for medical image processing. In cloth simulations, the virtual cloth is represented by a two-dimensional array of mass nodes. The nodes are connected with each other by springs. Once the cloth is released from a position away from the body, each node begins to move downwards under the effect of gravity, spring, and other forces; some of the nodes hit the superficial vessels and stop. The cloth position in the stationary state represents the body surface. The body surface estimation, which required approximately 1 h with the manual method, is automated and it takes only approximately 10 s with the proposed method. The proposed method could facilitate the practical use of PAT.
We report the current status of the "X-mas" (X-ray milli-arcsecond) project. X-mas is an application of the AO technology to the X-ray optics, aiming to obtain high-resolution defraction-limited X-ray images. Our X-ray telescope employs the Newton optics with a paraboloid primary and a 31-element deformable secondary mirrors. The aperture of the primary mirror is 80 millimeters with the focal length of 2 meters. Multi-layer coating of the mirrors by silicon and molybdenum realizes a large reflectivity of ~60% for the primary and 30-50% for the secondary mirror at 13.5 nm, which enables us to construct a normal incidence optics at this wavelength. We use a laser guide source and a wave front sensor to optimize the form of the secondary deformable mirror for the purpose of offsetting the large-scale figure errors in the X-ray optics. A back-side illumination X-ray CCD detector manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics is used for X-ray detections. We have assembled all these elements and started to accumulate data. Closed-loop AO is in operation for the laser guide source. Likely X-ray images are obtained through the telescope. The results in 2005-2006 are presented.
We are developing a soft x-ray telescope with an adaptive optics system for future astronomical observation with very fine angular resolution of an order of milli-arc-second. From a technical point of view, we are trying to develop a normal incident telescope with multi layers. Thus the wave length is limited to be around 13.5 nm with a band pass of roughly 1nm. Since the x-ray telescope must be installed on a satellite, a stable conditions of temperature, gravity etc, can not be expected. Therefore, we investigate to use an adaptive optics system using an optical light source attached in the telescope. In this paper, we report our present status of the development. The primary mirror is an off-axis paraboloid with 80 mm effective diameter and 2 m focal length. This mirror has been coated with Mo/Si multi-layers. The reflectivity of the 13.5 nm x rays is ranging from 35% to 55%. We use a deformable mirror for the secondary mirror, which has also been coated with Mo/Si multi-layers. This mirror consists of 31 element-bimorph-piezo electrodes. The surface roughness of the mirror is ~6 nm rms. The reflectivity of the 13.5 nm x rays is roughly 65%. The adaptive optics system using an optical laser and a wave front sensor has been performed. We are using a shack-hartmann sensor (HASO 32) with a micro-lens array and a CCD. A pin hole with one micron diameter is used for the optical light source. The precision of the measurement of the wave front shape is a few nm. X-ray exposure test is now conducting, although the optical adaptive optics system is not yet installed. The x-ray detector is a back illumination CCD. The quantum efficiency for 13.5 nm x ray is ~50%. The pixel size is 24 micron square. X-ray source is an electron impact source with an Al/Si alloy target. We confirmed that the x-ray intensity around 13.55 nm is bright enough for our experiment. The imaging performance is now trying to improve and the adaptive optics system will be installed in this year.
We are developing an ultra high precision soft X-ray telescope. The design of the telescope is a normal incident one for 13.5nm band using Mo/Si multilayers. Two ideas are introduced. One is the optical measurement system in order to monitor the precision of the optics system. The other is the adaptive optics system with a deformable mirror. Using an X-ray-optical separation filter, we can always monitor the deformation of the optics by optical light. With this information, we can control the deformable mirror to compensate the system distortion as a closed loop system.
The telescope system is now integrating and checking by optical light. The shape of the primary mirror is an off-axis paraboloid with a focal length of 2m and an effective diameter of 80mm. This primary mirror was coated by Mo/Si multilayers. The reflectivity of the primary mirror at 13.5nm was ranging from 30 to 50 %. The secondary mirror is a basically flat mirror but actually an deformable mirror with 31 piezo-actuators. The detector is now a wave front sensor (shack-hartmann type). The closed loop control has been performed and factor of 2.4 improvement of the wave front shape has been performed comparing to the un-control case.
We measured optical and soft X-ray transmission of Optical Blocking Filters (OBFs) for Charge Coupled Device (CCD) cameras, which will be launched as focal plane detectors of X-ray telescopes onboard the Japanese 5th X-ray astronomical satellite, Astro-E 2. The filters were made from polyimide coated with Al. The X-ray absorption fine structures (XAFSs) at the K edges of C, N, O and K and L edges of Al were measured. The depth of the absorption edge of O was deep, compared to the other elements of polyimide. This is evidence of the oxidation of Al. The optical transmission is roughly less than 10-6 except for a peak around the wave length of 550 nm. Long term change of the soft X-ray transmission was measured. No significant change of the thickness of the oxidation layer was found during half year.
We are developing an ultra high precision Soft X-ray telescope. The design of the telescope is a normal incident one for 13.5 nm band using Mo/Si multilayers. Two ideas are introduced. One is the optical measurement system in order to monitor the precision of the optics system. The other is the adaptive optics system with a deformable mirror. Using an X ray-optical separation filter, we can always monitor the deformation of the optics by optical light. With this information, we can control the deformable mirror to compensate the system distortion as a closed loop system. We confirmed that the absolute precision of the wave front sensor was less than 3 nm rms. This is also confirmed that the determination of the image center of each micro lens can be ~1/100 of the pixel size. The precision of the deformable mirror was roughly 5 nm rms. Using the closed loop control the accuracy of the repeatability of the shape of the deformable mirror is less than 2 nm rms. The shape of the primary mirror was an off-axis paraboloide with an effective diameter of 80 mm. This primary mirror was coated by Mo/Si multilayers. The reflectivity of the primary mirror at 13.5 nm was ranging from 30 to 50%. The X ray-optical separation filter was made from Zr with a thickness of ~170 nm. The transmission of the filter for low energy X-ray measured and was roughly 50% at thickness of ~170 nm. The transmission of the filter for low energy X-ray was measured and was roughly 50% at 13.5 nm.
We are developing an ultra high precision Soft X-ray telescope. The design of the telescope is a normal incident one for 13.5 nm band using Mo/Si multilayers. Two ideas are introduced. One is the optical measurement system in order to monitor the prevision of the optics system. The other is the adaptive optics system with a deformable mirror. Using an x-ray optical separation filter, we can always monitor the deformation of the optics by optical light. With this information, we can control the deformable mirror to compensate the system deformation as a closed loop system. We confirmed that the absolute precision of the wave front sensor was less than 3 nm rms. The preicison of the deformable mirror was roughly 5 nm rms. The shape of the primary mirror was an off-axis paraboloide with an effective diameter of 80mm. This primary mirror was coated by Mo/Si multilayers. The reflectivity of the primary mirror at 13.5 nm was rnaging from 30 to 50%. The x-ray optical separation filter was made from Zr with a thicknness of ~170nm. The transmission of the filter for low energy x-ray was measured and was roughly 50% at 13.5nm.
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