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

拟议的研究项目构成了我在高级扩散波技术中心(CADIFT)正在进行的研究计划的基本支持，该计划旨在开发两个主要领域的新的先进扩散波动态成像技术和仪器和测量技术：*1)疾病的生物医学非侵入性诊断，包括三个主题：a)骨质疏松的光热(PT)成像。我们最近开发了一种新的高轴向分辨率PT成像方法--截断相关光热相干层析成像(TC-PCT)，它可以用中红外相机在骨骼中产生清晰的亚表面图像。将开发TC-PCT成像，通过近表面骨密度测量来监测骨质疏松症。临床采用TC-PCT可能会导致骨质疏松症的早期诊断，与当今的电离X射线方法相竞争，并可能有助于改善这种疾病的治疗。B)临床前小动物功能光热成像。小动物(小鼠、大鼠)成像在特定药物或治疗的评估、表型鉴定和了解各种疾病的病理生理学方面发挥着重要作用。TC-PCT将发展成为小动物肿瘤的深度切片(断层)成像模式，通过接受肿瘤注射的小鼠大腿的血液积累图像。C)开发用于可靠的早期乳腺癌诊断的光声雷达多波长成像。在动物模型中，将使用4种对血液中氧含量敏感的波长同时获得表面下肿瘤的图像。测量的氧浓度将被用作表面以下3-4厘米的恶性肿瘤存在的定量标志。*2)CADIFT开发的名为“外差锁定载波成像”(Helic)的非破坏性成像(NDI)方法对衬底晶片和加工设备中引入的光电缺陷非常敏感。鉴于加拿大日益增长的太阳能电池板制造行业，将探讨两个主题：a)多晶体和非晶态薄膜硅光伏太阳能电池的非接触式螺旋成像。不需要太阳能电池电极；这允许在任何和所有器件制造阶段进行检查。B)纳米量子点(CQD)太阳能电池的成像，这种电池具有以比硅太阳能电池高得多的效率产生光伏电力的潜力。Helic的开发和应用将有助于改进硅基和胶体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.**