This research program involves the development a proprietary fiber optic chemical imaging probe capable of obtaining surface enhanced Raman images of microscopic to macroscopic samples with sub-200 nm spatial resolution and sub-second temporal resolution.
This probe allows for the molecular characterization of dynamic samples and has potential applications to materials characterization as well as cellular and tissue monitoring. The ultra-high resolution imaging coupled with the chemical differentiation and sensitivity provided by SERS can provide the potential to view dynamic phenomenon (e.g., lipid raft formation etc.) of living or inanimate materials below the theoretical limits of the best optical microscope.