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Stimulated Raman excited fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging

Nature Photonics volume 13, pages 412–417 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Powerful optical tools have revolutionized science and technology. The prevalent fluorescence detection offers superb sensitivity down to single molecules but lacks sufficient chemical information1,2,3. In contrast, Raman-based vibrational spectroscopy provides exquisite chemical specificity about molecular structure, dynamics and coupling, but is notoriously insensitive3,4,5. Here, we report a hybrid technique of stimulated Raman excited fluorescence (SREF) that integrates superb detection sensitivity and fine chemical specificity. Through stimulated Raman pumping to an intermediate vibrational eigenstate, followed by an upconversion to an electronic fluorescent state, SREF encodes vibrational resonance into the excitation spectrum of fluorescence emission. By harnessing the narrow vibrational linewidth, we demonstrated multiplexed SREF imaging in cells, breaking the ‘colour barrier’ of fluorescence. By leveraging the superb sensitivity of SREF, we achieved all-far-field single-molecule Raman spectroscopy and imaging without plasmonic enhancement, a long-sought-after goal in photonics. Thus, through merging Raman and fluorescence spectroscopy, SREF would be a valuable tool for chemistry and biology.

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Fig. 1: Encoding vibrational features into fluorescence spectroscopy.
Fig. 2: SREF spectroscopy.
Fig. 3: Living-cell multicolour SREF microscopy.
Fig. 4: Single-molecule SREF spectroscopy and imaging.

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Data availability

The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for discussions with L. E. Brus and X. Y. Zhu. This work was supported by grant R01GM128214 from the NIH, and by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Hanqing Xiong, Lixue Shi.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Hanqing Xiong, Lixue Shi, Lu Wei, Yihui Shen, Rong Long, Zhilun Zhao & Wei Min

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  1. Hanqing Xiong
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  7. Wei Min
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Contributions

H.X. and L.S. collected and analysed all the data; H.X. designed and constructed the instrument with the help of L.S. and Z.Z. under the guidance of W.M.; L.W. and Y.S. contributed to the early phase of the spectroscopy project; R.L. performed chemical synthesis; W.M. conceived the concept; H.X., L.S. and W.M. wrote the manuscript with input from all authors.

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Correspondence to Wei Min.

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Supplementary Figures 1–10 and Supplementary Table 1.

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Xiong, H., Shi, L., Wei, L. et al. Stimulated Raman excited fluorescence spectroscopy and imaging. Nat. Photonics 13, 412–417 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-019-0396-4

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