Patent ID: 9730588
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: A61B,G01N

Claim:
1. A probe for a photoacoustic measurement device, comprising: a light irradiation unit that emits light to be radiated to a subject; and an acoustic wave detection unit that detects an acoustic wave which is emitted from the subject by the light irradiation, wherein the light irradiation unit includes a light guide that has a parallel plate shape and includes two side surfaces which are parallel to each other, a light incident end surface on which the light is incident, and a light emission end surface which is opposite to the light incident end surface, with the side surfaces interposed therebetween, and from which the light is emitted, the light guide is arranged such that one of the two side surfaces is closer to a probe axis which faces the subject than the other side surface and the light emission end surface is closer to the probe axis than the light incident end surface when the probe is used, and when a refractive index of the light guide with respect to the light is n1 and a refractive index of a medium around the light guide with respect to the light during photoacoustic measurement is n2, an angle α is formed between the light emission end surface and the side surface which is closer to the probe axis, n2<n1 is satisfied, and 90°−arcsin(n2/n1)<α<90° is satisfied.