A wide‐field arrangement for single‐shot CARS imaging of living cells

This paper demonstrates a new arrangement for wide‐field CARS imaging. The setup using nanosecond dye lasers in a non‐phase‐matching illumination is presented. The chemical selectivity of the signal is demonstrated on polystyrene beads. Moreover, the experimental arrangement has enabled the acquisition of images of living cells in suspension with a satisfactory signal‐to‐background ratio by using only a single pair of laser shots. Therefore, each image can be acquired using a total duration of 3 ns, which is the pulse duration of the laser used in this study. Finally, lack of damage on cells has been demonstrated in conditions leading to strong CARS signal generation. In particular, no cell morphological changes were observed and cell membrane integrity (assessed by trypan blue test) was preserved. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.