Raman and quantitative-phase microscope with counter-propagating beams demonstrated on HeLa cells

Raman spectroscopy probes the chemical composition of biological samples with sub-micron resolution, rendering it a powerful tool in the diagnosis of several diseases and the study unstained biological samples. However, the weak Raman signal leads to long acquisition times, unsuited to study dynamical processes or large samples. Quantitative phase microscopy can speed up the diagnosis, provide complementary data, and potentially link the Raman fingerprint of the sample with corresponding refractive indices. Here we demonstrate a 4Pi microscope that records both the Raman and quantitative phase information from the same sample spot.

Publication year:2019