High-speed elasticity-specific nonlinear Brillouin imaging/sensing via time-resolved optical (BISTRO) measurements

Viscoelastic properties of living cells are often directly related to the cell types and their physiological conditions. Unfortunately, all the currently existing methods for analysis of viscoelastic properties of cells, such as micropipette aspiration, atomic force microscopy and optical tweezers are intrinsically slow, limiting their applicability to study large population of cells, which are often needed for either fundamental or clinical studies. In this report, by incorporating the concept of impulsive stimulated Brillouin scattering (ISBS), we report a Brillouin Imaging and Sensing system via Time-Resolved Optical (BISTRO) measurements. We will prove the principle of the BISTRO system by presenting example microscopic measurements and flow/cell cytometry results [1].