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Direct Three-Dimensional Measurement of Refractive Index via Dual Photon-Phonon Scattering

Antonio Fiore, Carlo Bevilacqua, and Giuliano Scarcelli
Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 103901 – Published 11 March 2019
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Abstract

We developed a microscopy technique that can measure the local refractive index without sampling the optical phase delay of the electromagnetic radiation. To do this, we designed and experimentally demonstrated a setup with two colocalized Brillouin scattering interactions that couple to a common acoustic phonon axis; in this scenario, the ratio of Brillouin frequency shifts depends on the refractive index, but not on any other mechanical and/or optical properties of the sample. Integrating the spectral measurement within a confocal microscope, the refractive index is mapped at micron-scale three-dimensional resolution. As the refractive index is probed in epidetection and without assumptions on the geometrical dimensions of the sample, this method may prove useful to characterize biological cells and tissues.

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  • Received 11 August 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.103901

© 2019 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

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A New Angle on Mapping the Refractive Index

Published 11 March 2019

3D maps of a sample’s refractive index—used in some biomedical tests—can be directly derived from angle-dependent measurements of light scattering from the sample.

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Authors & Affiliations

Antonio Fiore1, Carlo Bevilacqua1,2,*, and Giuliano Scarcelli1,†

  • 1Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA
  • 2Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Università degli Studi di Bari, I-70126 Bari, Italy

  • *Present address: European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, Germany.
  • scarc@umd.edu

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Issue

Vol. 122, Iss. 10 — 15 March 2019

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