Quantitative chemical sensing of drugs in scattering media with Bessel beam Raman spectroscopy

Scattering can seriously affect the highly sensitive detection and quantitative analysis of chemical substances in scattering media and becomes a significant challenge for in vivo application of Raman spectroscopy. In this study, we demonstrated a proof of concept for using the self-reconstructing Bessel beam for Raman spectroscopic sensing of the chemicals in the handmade scattering media and biological tissue slices. The homebuilt Bessel beam Raman spectroscopy (BRS) was capable of accurately detecting the Raman spectra of the chemicals buried in the scattering media, and had a superiority in quantitative analysis. The feasibility of the developed technique was verified by detecting the Raman spectra of pure samples in air. Compared with the spectra acquired by the Gaussian beam Raman spectroscope, the performance of the BRS system in terms of Raman spectrum detection and Raman peak recognition was confirmed. Subsequently, by employing the technique for the detection of acetaminophen buried in the scattering media, the application of the new technology in detecting and quantitating the chemicals in the scattering media were underlined, offering greater detection depth and better linear quantification capability than the conventional Gaussian beam Raman spectroscopy. Finally, we explored the potential of the BRS system for chemical sensing of acetaminophen in biological tissue slices, indicating a significant development towards the evaluation of drug in vivo.