Fourier Raman light field microscopy based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Abstract

Raman scattering, as a vibrational spectrum that carries material information, has no photobleaching that enables long-duration imaging. Raman spectra have very narrow emission peaks, and multiplex Raman imaging can be achieved by using different Raman scattering peak signals. These advantages make Raman imaging widely used in biology, cytology, and medicine, which has a wider range of application scenarios. However, obtaining a three-dimensional (3D) Raman image requires scanning for tens of minutes to several hours at present. Therefore, a fast non-scanning 3D Raman imaging method is greatly needed. In this article, we propose a Fourier Raman light field microscopy based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (sers-FRLFM). Using flower-like gap-enhanced Raman nanoparticles (F-GERNs) to enhance Raman scattering signals, a Fourier-configured light field microscope (LFM) is capable of recording complete four-dimensional Raman field information in a single frame, facilitating the 3D reconstruction of the Raman image without generating reconstruction artifacts at the native object plan. Moreover, F-GERNs can mark specific locations and have the potential to become a new tracing method to achieve specific imaging. This imaging method has great potential in the 3D real-time Raman imaging of cells, microorganisms, and tissues with the lateral resolution of 2.40 µm and an axial resolution of 4.02 µm.