1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, USA;2. College of Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom
Abstract:
Brillouin microspectroscopy is a powerful technique for noninvasive optical imaging. In particular, Brillouin microspectroscopy uniquely allows assessing a sample's mechanical properties with microscopic spatial resolution. Recent advances in background‐free Brillouin microspectroscopy make it possible to image scattering samples without substantial degradation of the data quality. However, measurements at the cellular‐ and subcellular‐level have never been performed to date due to the limited signal strength. In this report, by adopting our recently optimized VIPA‐based Brillouin spectrometer, we probed the microscopic viscoelasticity of individual red blood cells. These measurements were supplemented by chemically specific measurements using Raman microspectroscopy.