title: Analysis and experimental assessment of the sensitivity of stimulated Raman scattering microscopy.
abstract: We theoretically show that the shot-noise-limited sensitivity of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy, which enables high-contrast vibrational imaging, is similar to that of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy. We experimentally confirm that the sensitivity of our SRS microscope is lower than the shot-noise limit only by <15 dB, which indicates that the high-sensitivity of SRS microscopy is readily available.
authors.affiliation: Department of Material and Life Science,Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. ozeki@mls.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ozeki
authors.forename: Fumihiro
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dake
authors.forename: Shin'ichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kajiyama
authors.forename: Kiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukui
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itoh
mesh_terms: D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055620:Optical Phenomena; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000166:cytology