Abstract : ​Multiwave aspects of thermoacoustic imaging and range verification during particle therapy will be discussed.
Thermoacoustic images are generated from acoustic pulses induced by heating due to lossy electromagnetic wave propagation. Quantitative thermoacoustic imaging is feasible when the electric field pattern can be accurately modeled throughout the imaging field of view and delivered quickly enough to ensure stress confinement.
Therapeutic ions slow from relativistic speeds to a dead stop within nanoseconds, generating extraordinarily high temperature and pressure spikes within a thermal core of nanometer diameter along their tracks.
Possibilities for utilizing these phenomena to verify the ion beam location within the patient will be considered.

Keywords : photoacoustic imaging; ​thermoacoustic imaging; ​multiwave aspects; particle therapy; acoustic pulses; electromagnetic wave propagation