INSTRUMENTATION AND AUTOMATION FOR STIMULATED BRILLOUIN SPECTROSCOPY

Abstract

The use of Brillouin spectroscopy for noninvasive probing of the mechanical properties of biologically relevant materials shows great promise. Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) spectroscopy has the potential to significantly improve measurement speed and resolution by amplifying the scattered signal resonantly. However, current SBS spectrometers have been limited by fundamental and practical constraints in detection parameters. Here, we develop and demonstrate a novel LabVIEW-automated SBS instrumentation scheme in which a number of instruments that otherwise operate independently are automatized and synchronized from a singular LabVIEW program with emphasis on the user interface. Additionally, localization theory, originating from fluorescence-based super resolution microscopy techniques, is applied to the acquisition of SBS spectra, and experimentally demonstrated using this instrumentation scheme, resulting in spectra being acquired an order of magnitude faster while maintaining performances in terms of signal to noise ratio (SNR) and measurement precision.