Contrast agents are attracting a great deal of attention in photoacoustic imaging. Here we introduce an exogenous contrast agent that provides high photoacoustic signal amplitude at the near-infrared wavelength. Our agents consist of Indocyanine green (IC
Laser pulses with energy of ~10 μJ are generated at 46.9 nm on the 3p-3s transition of the Ne-like Ar by a fast capillary discharge setup in both 3- and 4-mm channels. The dependence of the laser output pulse energy on the pressure of Ar gas is measured f