A probe employed in photoacoustic inspection is equipped with: a light emitting section that emits a light beam onto a subject and an electroacoustic converting section that converts photoacoustic waves into electrical signals. The light emitting section is configured to emit light onto an emission range on the subject that includes the entirety of a corresponding region of the subject that corresponds to the electroacoustic converting section, the minimum distance between the outer peripheral edge of the corresponding region and the outer peripheral edge of the emission range being 5 mm or greater. The present invention enables detection of photoacoustic waves with a higher S/N ratio, in photoacoustic inspection that utilizes the photoacoustic effect.
