Compressed All-Optical Photoacoustic Imaging
Structured light, optical ultrasound detection, and model-based reconstruction for imaging biological activity at depth.
Light, Sound, and Inverse Problems
I work on compressed all-optical photoacoustic imaging for neuronal activity. In less ceremonial terms, I try to make light go into tissue, make sound come out, listen to that sound optically, and then solve the inverse problem without pretending the experiment was kinder than it was.
My project sits between optics, acoustics, computational imaging, and inverse problems. The long-term goal is to image biological activity at depth with fewer measurements, less hardware brutality, and a reconstruction model that still remembers physics exists.
Research
Photoacoustic imaging has a beautifully inconvenient premise, optical absorption can be converted into ultrasound. This gives optical contrast at acoustic length scales, which is useful if one is interested in seeing inside scattering tissue and has accepted that biology rarely arranges itself for our convenience.
My PhD focuses on compressed all-optical photoacoustic imaging. Instead of illuminating every point and measuring everything in the most obedient possible way, I study how optical ultrasound detection, and model-based reconstruction can recover dynamic biological signals from limited measurements.
I work with Thomas Chaigne and Marc Allain at Institut Fresnel, in the orbit of all-optical photoacoustics, optical ultrasound detection, and computational reconstruction.
The practical question is simple. Given a planar optical detector, a DMD-based detection system, and a biological signal that changes in time, how much can we reconstruct before the measurement budget, the laser repetition rate, and reality itself start complaining?
Current directions:
- Fast shift-invariant forward models for planar photoacoustic tomography
- Compressed sensing and DMD-based illumination strategies
- All-optical ultrasound detection with Fabry–Pérot sensors
- Dynamic reconstruction for calcium-like activity
- Experimental validation with optical and acoustic systems
Publications
A depth-dependent, transverse shift-invariant operator for fast iterative 3D photoacoustic tomography in planar geometry
E. Küçükkömürcü, S. Labouesse, M. Allain, T. Chaigne. arXiv, 2026.
Sound Reconstruction via Optical Multi-Mode Fiber
E. Küçükkömürcü, B. N. Gün, E. Yüce. arXiv, 2024.
Projects
Selected projects connected by waves, optical sensing, reconstruction, and the occasional suspiciously fragile experimental setup.
Visual Microphone
My final-year METU project on recovering sound from optical speckle fluctuations in a multimode fiber.
Acoustic Levitation
Experimental exploration of acoustic radiation forces and levitation using ultrasonic standing waves.
Optical Detection of Sound Absorption
Optical approaches for probing sound absorption and acoustic interactions.
Shear Wave Imaging Simulation
Simulation-based study of shear-wave imaging and stiffness reconstruction.
Contact
Institution: Institut Fresnel, Marseille
Website: kucukkomurcu.com
PI: Thomas Chaigne
Email: ege.kucukkomurcu [at] fresnel.fr