《開放存取光聲學(xué)雜志》(PACS)的目的是發(fā)表在快速發(fā)展的光聲學(xué)(光聲學(xué))和熱聲學(xué)領(lǐng)域的原創(chuàng)研究和綜述，利用光和電磁激發(fā)的聲學(xué)和熱現(xiàn)象來可視化和表征各種材料和生物組織，包括生物體。雖然光譜和光熱的一些應(yīng)用已經(jīng)達到了成熟的狀態(tài)，但其他許多研究方向也經(jīng)歷了爆炸式的增長，尤其是生物醫(yī)學(xué)光聲學(xué)，目前被認為是增長最快的生物成像方式。大量的調(diào)查主題清楚地表明，這個領(lǐng)域已經(jīng)為基礎(chǔ)研究和應(yīng)用研究開發(fā)了廣泛的工具。激光技術(shù)、超聲檢測方法、逆理論和快速重建算法的發(fā)展為這一巨大的進展提供了有力的支持。這一進展還受到大量未得到滿足的生物學(xué)和醫(yī)學(xué)需求的推動，這些需求可以通過光聲學(xué)(光聲學(xué))方法的獨特對比機制來解決。這些包括血管系統(tǒng)的臨床前研究和臨床成像，組織和疾病生理學(xué)，藥物療效和治療監(jiān)測，光學(xué)解剖學(xué)和分子成像使用熒光色素，色素團和納米顆粒。相應(yīng)的應(yīng)用范圍涵蓋了生物學(xué)和醫(yī)學(xué)成像的整個領(lǐng)域，包括癌癥、心血管疾病、神經(jīng)成像、眼科或免疫學(xué)成像、糖尿病和肥胖癥、細胞轉(zhuǎn)運應(yīng)用以及許多其他生物學(xué)功能。光聲學(xué)和熱聲學(xué)的多學(xué)科性質(zhì)也體現(xiàn)在化學(xué)和納米技術(shù)的不斷發(fā)展上，從納米顆粒和有機染料到靶向試劑和基因表達標記，各種新型對比材料和試劑不斷得到發(fā)展。

The aim of the open access Photoacoustics journal (PACS) is to publish original research and review contributions within the fast growing field of photoacoustics (optoacoustics) and thermoacoustics, which exploits optically and electromagnetically excited acoustical and thermal phenomena for visualization and characterization of a variety of materials and biological tissues, including living organisms. While some of the spectroscopic and photothermal applications have reached a mature state, many other research directions experience an explosive growth, in particular biomedical photoacoustics, which is currently considered the fastest growing bio-imaging modality. The wealth of investigated topics clearly indicates that this field has developed a broad range of tools for fundamental and applied research. The enormous recent progress is greatly supported by the advances in laser technologies, ultrasound detection approaches, development of inverse theory and fast reconstruction algorithms. This progress is also driven by a large number of unmet biological and medical needs that can be addressed by the unique contrast mechanisms available to photoacoustic (optoacoustic) methods. These include pre-clinical research and clinical imaging of vasculature, tissue and disease physiology, drug efficacy and treatment monitoring, optical anatomy and molecular imaging employing fluorochromes, chromophores and nanoparticles. Correspondingly applications span the entire range of biological and medical imaging including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neuroimaging, ophthalmology or imaging in immunology, diabetes and obesity, cell trafficking application and a multitude of other biological functions. The multi-disciplinarily nature of photoacoustics and thermoacoustics is also evinced by the growing contribution from chemistry and nanotechnology where a multitude of novel contrast materials and agents have been constantly developed, from nanoparticles and organic dyes, to targeted agents and genetically expressed markers.