High Spatial Resolution Coherent Ultrafast Spectroscopy

Chemical sensitive imaging of heterogeneous materials and biological cells requires a sensitive, high spatial resolution microscopy method based on vibrational resonances that is capable of performing in situ spectroscopy with both frequency and time resolution. In this SBIR/STTR, we will develop a novel self-referencing stimulated Raman microscopy technique to provide the full retrieval of the vibrational response function in the time- and frequency-domain with phase and amplitude information in a single shot. This new microscopy technique will improve sensitivity over existing stimulated Raman microscopy techniques, allow systematic background removal without requiring reference spectra, provide precision in spectral and temporal resolution, and have chemical sensitivity with simultaneous 100s nm spatial and fs temporal resolution. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: Our improved stimulated Raman microscopy instrument will significantly transform the microscopy market with cell biology, biomedical, energy materials, and environmental science applications. Improvements will have applications in medicine, Homeland Security, and nano- and meta-materials.