Towards stimulated Raman scattering spectro-microscopy across the entire Raman active region using a multiple-plate continuum

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) has attracted increasing attention in bio-imaging because of the ability toward background-free molecular-specific acquisitions without fluorescence labeling. Nevertheless, the corresponding sensitivity and specificity remain far behind those of fluorescence techniques. Here, we demonstrate SRS spectro-microscopy driven by a multiple-plate continuum (MPC), whose octave-spanning bandwidth (600-1300 nm) and high spectral energy density (similar to 1 nJ/cm-1) enable spectroscopic interrogation across the entire Raman active region (0-4000 cm-1), SRS imaging of a Drosophila brain, and electronic pre-resonance (EPR) detection of a fluorescent dye. We envision that utilizing MPC light source will substantially enhance the sensitivity and specificity of SRS by implementing EPR mode and spectral multiplexing via accessing three or more coherent wavelengths.(c) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement