Development of advanced dynamic imaging technologies for biomedical diagnostics and industrial non-destructive testing

这些研究项目是我在先进扩散波技术中心（CADIFT）正在进行的研究项目的基础支持，旨在开发新的先进扩散波动态成像技术以及仪器和测量技术，主要涉及两个领域：***1)疾病的生物医学无创诊断，包括三个主题：A)骨质疏松症的光热成像（PT）。我们最近开创了一种新的高轴分辨率PT成像方法，“截断相关光热相干层析成像”（TC-PCT），该方法使用中红外相机在骨骼中产生“清晰”的地下图像。TC-PCT成像将通过近地表骨密度测量来监测骨质疏松症。临床采用TC-PCT可能导致骨质疏松症的早期诊断，与今天的电离x射线方法竞争，并可能有助于改善疾病的治疗。B)临床前小动物功能光热成像。小动物（小鼠、大鼠）成像在评估特定药物或治疗、分型和了解各种疾病的病理生理方面发挥着重要作用。TC-PCT将发展成为一种小动物肿瘤的深度层（断层）成像方式，通过注射肿瘤的小鼠大腿的血液积累图像。C)发展光声雷达多波长成像技术，用于可靠的早期乳腺癌诊断。利用对血液中氧含量敏感的4种波长，将获得动物模型表面下肿瘤的同时图像。测量的氧浓度将用作表面以下3-4厘米处恶性肿瘤存在的定量标记。***2) cadift开发的一种名为“外差锁定载波”（HeLIC）的无损成像（NDI）方法对衬底晶圆和加工器件中引入的光电缺陷非常敏感。鉴于加拿大不断发展的太阳能电池板制造业，将探讨两个主题：A)多晶和非晶薄膜硅光伏太阳能电池的非接触式HeLIC成像。不需要太阳能电池电极；这允许在任何和所有设备制造阶段进行检查。B)纳米量子点（CQD）太阳能电池的成像，它有潜力以比硅太阳能电池更高的效率产生光伏发电。HeLIC的发展和应用将有助于改善硅基和胶体PbS CQD光伏器件的制造工艺和太阳能转换效率

The proposed research projects constitute fundamental support of my ongoing research program at the Center for Advanced Diffusion-Wave Technologies (CADIFT) toward the development of new advanced diffusion-wave dynamic imaging techniques and instrumentation and measurement technologies in two major fields: ***1) Biomedical noninvasive diagnostics of disease, with three topics: A) Photothermal (PT) imaging of bone Osteoporosis. We recently pioneered a new high-axial -resolution PT imaging method, "Truncated-Correlation Photothermal Coherence Tomography" (TC-PCT) which produces "crisp" subsurface images in bone with a mid-infrared camera. TC-PCT imaging will be developed to monitor osteoporosis through near-surface bone-density measurements. Clinical adoption of TC-PCT may lead to early diagnosis of osteoporosis competing with today's ionizing X-ray methods and possibly help with improvements in the treatment of the disease. B) Pre-clinical small-animal functional photothermal imaging. Small-animal (mouse, rat) imaging plays a significant role in the assessment of specific drugs or treatments, in phenotyping and understanding the pathophysiology of various diseases. TC-PCT will be developed into a depth-slice (tomographic) imaging modality of small animal tumors through blood accumulation images in thighs of mice subjected to tumor injections. C) Development of photoacoustic radar multi-wavelength imaging for reliable very early breast cancer diagnosis. Simultaneous images of subsurface tumors in animal models will be obtained using 4 wavelengths sensitive to oxygen content in blood. The measured oxygen concentration will be used as quantitative marker of the presence of malignant tumors down to 3-4 cm below the surface.***2) A CADIFT-developed non-destructive imaging (NDI) methodology named "heterodyne lock-in carrierography" (HeLIC) is sensitive to optoelectronic defects introduced in substrate wafers and processed devices. Given Canada's growing solar panel manufacturing industry, two topics will be pursued: A) Non-contact HeLIC imaging of multi-crystalline and amorphous thin-film Si photovoltaic solar cells. No solar-cell electrodes are required; this allows the inspection to take place at any and all device fabrication stages. B) Imaging of nanosize quantum dot (CQD) solar cells which have the potential to generate photovoltaic power at much higher efficiencies than Si solar cells. The development and applications of HeLIC will help improve the fabrication process and the solar conversion efficiency of Si-based and colloidal PbS CQD photovoltaic devices.**