Vibrational imaging coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy

An approach for the chemical imaging of molecular systems is presented, based on coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy/spectroscopy (CARS). This technique permits to map selectively molecular species, by using vibrational properties of their chemical bounds. This offers a powerful optical tool with high sensitivity, high spatial resolution and three dimensional sectioning capability, without using fluorophores that are prone to photobleaching. CARS does not need confocal detection since the contrast mechanism results from a non-linear process (four wave mixing), that is generated only in epidetection configuration at the microscope objective focal point. We present the first results of our experiment set up on polystyrene beads.