Volumetric chemical imaging in vivo by a remote-focusing stimulated Raman scattering microscope
Peng Lin, Hongli Ni, Huate Li, Nicholas A. Vickers, Yuying Tan, Ruyi Gong, Thomas G. Bifano, Ji‐Xin Cheng
Abstract
Operable under ambient light and providing chemical selectivity, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy opens a new window for imaging molecular events on a human subject, such as filtration of topical drugs through the skin. A typical approach for volumetric SRS imaging is through piezo scanning of an objective lens, which often disturbs the sample and offers a low axial scan rate. To address these challenges, we have developed a deformable mirror-based remote-focusing SRS microscope, which not only enables high-quality volumetric chemical imaging without mechanical scanning of the objective but also corrects the system aberrations simultaneously. Using the remote-focusing SRS microscope, we performed volumetric chemical imaging of living cells and captured in real time the dynamic diffusion of topical chemicals into human sweat pores.