title: Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy using tightly focused radially polarized light.
abstract: We report a radially polarized coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (RP-CARS) microscopy for facilitating longitudinally oriented molecules detection. We observe that under tight focusing of radially polarized pump and Stokes light fields with a high-NA objective, RP-CARS radiation from molecules oriented along the longitudinal direction is approximately threefold stronger than that using linearly polarized CARS (LP-CARS) technique. The lateral resolution of RP-CARS imaging can be improved by about 10% compared to the LP-CARS imaging. We demonstrate this RP-CARS technique by imaging the sectioned cottonwood leaf vascular bundles.
authors.affiliation: Optical Bioimaging Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117576.
authors.forename: Fake
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008853:Microscopy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000648:ultrastructure; D032107:Populus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman