Fast mid-infrared imaging with non-degenerate two-photon absorption

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Nanoscale spectroscopic origins of photoinduced tip-sample force in the midinfrared.

When light illuminates the junction formed between a sharp metal tip and a sample, different mechanisms can contribute to the measured photoinduced force simultaneously. Of particular interest are the instantaneous force between the induced dipoles in the tip and in the sample, and the force related to thermal heating of the junction. A key difference between these 2 force mechanisms is their spectral behavior. The magnitude of the thermal response follows a dissipative (absorptive) Lorentzian line shape, which measures the heat exchange between light and matter, while the induced dipole response exhibits a dispersive spectrum and relates to the real part of the material polarizability. Because the 2 interactions are sometimes comparable in magnitude, the origin of the chemical selectivity in nanoscale spectroscopic imaging through force detection is often unclear. Here, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally how the light illumination gives rise to the 2 kinds of photoinduced forces at the tip-sample junction in the midinfrared. We comprehensively address the origin of the spectroscopic forces by discussing cases where the 2 spectrally dependent forces are entwined. The analysis presented here provides a clear and quantitative interpretation of nanoscale chemical measurements of heterogeneous materials and sheds light on the nature of light-matter coupling in optomechanical force-based spectronanoscopy

Protein-to-Lipid Ratio of Meibum as a Metric for Meibomian Gland Dysfunction

Dry eye disease is a condition caused by inadequate moisture levels in the eye that may result from one of two prevalent situations: reduced tear production, or imbalance in tear composition. The imbalance specific to deficiencies in the fatty, outer layer of the tear film is known as meibomian gland dysfunction. Meibomian glands secrete an oily substance, meibum, which slows the evaporation of the aqueous layer of the tear film. It is believed that the chemical composition of the meibum is directly related to its ability to keep the eye at healthy moisture. In analyzing the composition of meibum samples through stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy, we aim to determine the protein-to-lipid ratio and use it as a metric for classifying the health of the meibum. We predict that samples with higher protein-to-lipid ratios will represent those with higher grades of meibomian gland dysfunction

Effect of Scatterering on Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) signals

We develop a computational framework to examine the factors responsible for scattering-induced distortions of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) signals in turbid samples. We apply the Huygens-Fresnel Wave-based Electric Field Superposition (HF-WEFS) method combined with the radiating dipole approximation to compute the effects of scattering-induced distortions of focal excitation fields on the far-field CARS signal. We analyze the effect of spherical scatterers, placed in the vicinity of the focal volume, on the CARS signal emitted by different objects (2{\mu}m diameter solid sphere, 2{\mu}m diameter myelin cylinder and 2{\mu}m diameter myelin tube). We find that distortions in the CARS signals arise not only from attenuation of the focal field but also from scattering-induced changes in the spatial phase that modifies the angular distribution of the CARS emission. Our simulations further show that CARS signal attenuation can be minimized by using a high numerical aperture condenser. Moreover, unlike the CARS intensity image, CARS images formed by taking the ratio of CARS signals obtained using x- and y-polarized input fields is relatively insensitive to the effects of spherical scatterers. Our computational framework provide a mechanistic approach to characterizing scattering-induced distortions in coherent imaging of turbid media and may inspire bottom-up approaches for adaptive optical methods for image correction.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Nanoscale spectroscopic studies of two different physical origins of the tip-enhanced force: dipole and thermal

When light illuminates the junction formed between a sharp metal tip and a sample, different mechanisms can con-tribute to the measured photo-induced force simultaneously. Of particular interest are the instantaneous force be-tween the induced dipoles in the tip and in the sample and the force related to thermal heating of the junction. A key difference between these two force mechanisms is their spectral behaviors. The magnitude of the thermal response follows a dissipative Lorentzian lineshape, which measures the heat exchange between light and matter, while the induced dipole response exhibits a dispersive spectrum and relates to the real part of the material polarizability. Be-cause the two interactions are sometimes comparable in magnitude, the origin of the nanoscale chemical selectivity in the recently developed photo-induced force microscopy (PiFM) is often unclear. Here, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally how light absorption followed by nanoscale thermal expansion generates a photo-induced force in PiFM. Furthermore, we explain how this thermal force can be distinguished from the induced dipole force by tuning the relaxation time of samples. Our analysis presented here helps the interpretation of nanoscale chemical measure-ments of heterogeneous materials and sheds light on the nature of light-matter coupling in van der Waals materials.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure

Seeing the vibrational breathing of a single molecule through time-resolved coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering

The motion of chemical bonds within molecules can be observed in real time, in the form of vibrational wavepackets prepared and interrogated through ultrafast nonlinear spectroscopy. Such nonlinear optical measurements are commonly performed on large ensembles of molecules, and as such, are limited to the extent that ensemble coherence can be maintained. Here, we describe vibrational wavepacket motion on single molecules, recorded through time-resolved, surface-enhanced, coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering. The required sensitivity to detect the motion of a single molecule, under ambient conditions, is achieved by equipping the molecule with a dipolar nano-antenna (a gold dumbbell). In contrast with measurements in ensembles, the vibrational coherence on a single molecule does not dephase. It develops phase fluctuations with characteristic statistics. We present the time evolution of discretely sampled statistical states, and highlight the unique information content in the characteristic, early-time probability distribution function of the signal.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure

Surface-enhanced coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering of molecules near metal-dielectric nanojunctions.

We discuss an experimental configuration consisting of {Au film}-molecule-{Au particle} or {Au film}-molecule-{Si particle} nanojunctions for performing wide-field surface-enhanced CARS (SE-CARS) measurements in a reproducible and controllable manner. While the allowable illumination dosage in the {Au film}-molecule-{Au particle} case is limited by the strong two-photon background from the gold, we successfully generate a detectable coherent Raman response from a molecular monolayer using the lowest reported average power densities to-date. With a vision to minimize the two-photon background and the intrinsic losses observed in all-metal plasmonic systems, we examine the possibility of using high-index dielectric particles on top of a thin metal film to generate strong nanoscopic hotspots. We demonstrate repeatable SE-CARS measurements at the {Au film}-molecule-{Si particle} heterojunction, underlining the usability of this experimental geometry. This work paves the way for the development of next-generation of chemical and biomolecular sensing assays that can minimize some of the major drawbacks encountered in fragile and lossy all-metal plasmonic systems