Plasmon-enhanced stimulated Raman scattering microscopy with single-molecule detection sensitivity
Date
2019-11-21
Authors
Zong, Cheng
Premasiri, Ranjith
Lin, Haonan
Huang, Yimin
Zhang, Chi
Yang, Chen
Ren, Bin
Ziegler, Lawrence D.
Cheng, Ji-Xin
Version
Published version
OA Version
Citation
Cheng Zong, Ranjith Premasiri, Haonan Lin, Yimin Huang, Chi Zhang, Chen Yang, Bin Ren, Lawrence D Ziegler, Ji-Xin Cheng. 2019. "Plasmon-enhanced stimulated Raman scattering microscopy with single-molecule detection sensitivity.." Nat Commun, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp. 5318. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-13230-1
Abstract
Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy allows for high-speed label-free chemical imaging of biomedical systems. The imaging sensitivity of SRS microscopy is limited to ~10 mM for endogenous biomolecules. Electronic pre-resonant SRS allows detection of sub-micromolar chromophores. However, label-free SRS detection of single biomolecules having extremely small Raman cross-sections (~10-30 cm2 sr-1) remains unreachable. Here, we demonstrate plasmon-enhanced stimulated Raman scattering (PESRS) microscopy with single-molecule detection sensitivity. Incorporating pico-Joule laser excitation, background subtraction, and a denoising algorithm, we obtain robust single-pixel SRS spectra exhibiting single-molecule events, verified by using two isotopologues of adenine and further confirmed by digital blinking and bleaching in the temporal domain. To demonstrate the capability of PESRS for biological applications, we utilize PESRS to map adenine released from bacteria due to starvation stress. PESRS microscopy holds the promise for ultrasensitive detection and rapid mapping of molecular events in chemical and biomedical systems.
Description
License
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