Broadband Scanning Microwave Microscopy of a Biological Cell with Unprecedented Image Quality and Signal-to-Noise Ratio

A broadband scanning microwave microscope (SMM) was developed by modifying both the hardware and software of a narrowband commercial SMM. Using the broadband SMM, images of a Jurkat human lymphocyte cell were acquired over 128 × 128 pixels at 201 frequencies from 1 GHz to 9 GHz, all in 20 min. The acquired broadband signals allowed Fourier transformation for time-gated postprocessing of the SMM data with unprecedented image quality and signal-to-noise ratio. The broadband SMM can enable microwave spectroscopy and 3D tomography of intracellular structures in a live cell.