Application – Refined Laser Systems

Coherent Raman scattering Microscopy

BIOMEDICAL IMAGING

Coherent Raman scattering microscopy (CRS), a chemically selective imaging technique, allows to visualize the distribution of different components in a sample. CRI uses two synchronized laser beams of different colors to probe the molecular vibrations in the sample and does not rely on labeling, e.g. with dyes. This label-free nature lead to its success within the biomedical field and is one of the main motivators for transitioning CRS into clinical settings.

Color-depth projections of 3D volumes of fresh ex-vivo mouse ear tissue highlighting lipid rich regions (in collaboration with A. Fast and C. Evans).

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LIVE IMAGING

Complex technical as well as biological samples contain a wealth of different components, each with a unique set of molecular vibrations. As the excitation wavelengths of our dual-color laser is tunable to a specific vibration within only 5 ms, live multicolor imaging of such samples becomes feasible. With such a tuning speed up to 100 user-selectable vibrational components could be imaged per second, assuming an equal time span for tuning and image acquisition. This is an important prerequisite for the application of CRI in time critical settings, such as operating theater or for multiple samples in large studies.

Live imaging video of a technical sample containing three different chemical components. Each of the three images is acquired in 125 ms subsequently and the laser wavelength is changed between each image in 5 ms.