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21.1 Introduction to Photoacoustic
Tomography
21.1.1 Background
Photoacoustic (PA) tomography (PAT), also referred to as
optoacoustic tomography, is an emerging biomedical imaging
method based on the PA eect (Xu and Wang 2006, Li and Wang
2009, Oraevsky and Karabutov 2003). e PA eect was reported
by Alexander Graham Bell in 1880 (Bell 1880), and refers to the
generation of acoustic waves by substances being illuminated
by electromagnetic (EM) waves of varying power. e PA eect
results from the variational thermal expansion within the mate-
rial as it absorbs the EM radiative energy. Since the ability of
EM absorption reec ...