Advancing impulsive stimulated Brillouin microscopy using a femtosecond laser for biomechanics

In biomedicine, the mechanical properties of cells and tissues are increasingly recognized as a diagnostic tool. Impulsive stimulated Brillouin scattering (ISBS) is promising to overcome the long measurement durations of the established (spontaneous) Brillouin microscopy. ISBS microscopy offers fast three-dimensional non-contact measurements on in vivo samples. In ISBS microscopy, a standing acoustic wave is excited by an interference fringe pattern generated by an ultra-short pulsed laser. The oscillation frequency and therefore local mechanical properties can be retrieved using a cw probe laser. We will present the possibilities, limits and trade-offs for ISBS microscopy in biomedical applications.