Patent ID: 8650960

Claim:
An imaging apparatus, comprising: a light irradiating section, that irradiates light onto a subject; an ultrasound probe that includes a plurality of probe elements, each of which is configured to output acoustic signals into the subject, configured to detect photoacoustic signals generated within the subject due to absorption of the light irradiated by the light irradiating section, and configured to detect reflected acoustic signals which are reflections of the acoustic signals output into the subject; a first phase matching adding section that phase matches and adds the photoacoustic signals detected by the probe elements within a first phase matching range; a first image processing section that generates a photoacoustic image based on data which has been phase matched and added by the first phase matching adding section; a second phase matching adding section that phase matches and adds the reflected acoustic signals detected by the probe elements within a second phase matching range, which is smaller than the first phase matching range; and a second image processing section, that generates an ultrasound image based on data which has been phase matched and added by the second phase matching adding section.