Structured Illumination Raman Microscopy for High-Resolution Label-Free Imaging

Recent development in super resolution microscopy has enabled noninvasive observation of various kinds of specimens with high spatial-resolution. Despite the potential of the chemical analysis in Raman microscopy, high-resolution analytical imaging has been challenging due to the weak efficiency in Raman scattering. We introduce structured illumination to spontaneous Raman microscopy in order to realize a technique for large-area and high-spatial resolution micro-spectroscopic imaging. We developed a structured line illumination Raman microscope using two beam interference in a line illumination and demonstrated high-resolution Raman imaging of polymer nanoparticles and a biological tissue. The results indicate that the high resolution Raman imaging would strongly enhance the analytical capability in chemical imaging of medical, biological and industrial materials.