Ultrasound modulated optical tomography (UOT) is a powerful imaging technique to discriminate healthy from unhealthy biological tissues based on their optical signature. Among the numerous detection techniques developed for acousto-optic imaging, only those based on spectral filtering are intrinsically immune to speckle decorrelation. This paper reports on UOT imaging based on spectral hole burning in Tm:YAG crystal under a moderate magnetic field (200G) with a well-defined orientation. The

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... and long-lasting holes translate into a more efficient UOT imaging with a higher contrast and faster imaging frame rate. We demonstrate the potential of this method by imaging calibrated phantom scattering gels.