Acoustic resolution photoacoustic microscopy (AR-PAM) has gained much attention in the past two decades due to its high contrast, scalable resolution, and relatively higher imaging depth. Multimode optical fibers (MMF) are extensively used to transfer light to AR-PAM imaging scan-head from the laser source. Typically, peak-power-compensation (PPC) is used to reduce the effect of pulse-to-pulse peak-power variation in generated photoacoustic (PA) signals. In MMF, the output intensity profile fluctuates due to the coherent nature of light and mode exchange caused by variations in the bending of the fibers during scanning. Therefore, using a photodiode (PD) to capture a portion of the total power of pulses as a measure of illuminated light on the sample may not be appropriate for accurate PPC. In this study, we have investigated the accuracy of PPC in fiber-guided and free-space AR-PAM systems. Experiments were conducted in the transparent and highly scattering medium. Based on obtained results for the MMF-based system, to apply PPC to the generated PA signals, tightly focused light confocal with the acoustic focus in a transparent medium must be used. In the clear medium and highly focused illumination, enhancement of about 45% was obtained in the homogeneity of an optically homogeneous sample image. In addition, it is shown that, as an alternative, free-space propagation of the laser pulses results in more accurate PPC in both transparent and highly scattering mediums. In free-space light transmission, enhancement of 25-75% was obtained in the homogeneity of the optically homogeneous sample image.
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