On illumination schemes for wide-field CARS microscopy.
New system for a wide-field CARS microscopy is demonstrated, including two schemes of non-phase-matching illumination. Several advantages including high Stokes pulse energy, pulse-to-pulse stability and inherent synchronization between pump and Stokes pulses were brought by use of methane-filled Raman converter. Spatial resolution of the system with axially symmetric illumination, 0.5 microm, was found to correspond to diffraction limit of the imaging objective. Selective sensitivity to lipid-rich myelin sheaths in the nerve tissue has been demonstrated and confirmed by comparison with histological samples stained with myelin-specific dye. Single-shot imaging capability of the system has been demonstrated with a speckling-free illumination on a monolayer of 3 microm polystyrene beads.
Toytman
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I
Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory, Stanford University, CA 94305-4085, USA. itoytman@stanford.edu
Simanovskii
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D
Palanker
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D
D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008029:Lighting / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity