Microscopic variations in material stiffness play a vital role in cellular scale biomechanics, but are difficult to measure in a natural 3D environment. Brillouin microscopy is a promising technology for such applications, providing non-contact label-free measurement of longitudinal modulus at microscopic resolution. Here we develop heterodyne detection to measure Brillouin scattering signals in a confocal microscope setup, providing sensitive detection with excellent frequency resolution and robust operation in the presence of stray light. The functionality of the microscope is characterized and validated, and the imaging capability demonstrated by imaging structure within both a fibrin fiber network and live cells.

中文翻译：

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用于生物力学成像的外差布里渊显微镜

材料刚度的微观变化在细胞尺度生物力学中起着至关重要的作用，但在自然 3D 环境中很难测量。布里渊显微镜是此类应用的一项有前途的技术，可在微观分辨率下提供纵向模量的非接触式无标签测量。在这里，我们开发了外差检测，以在共聚焦显微镜设置中测量布里渊散射信号，提供具有出色频率分辨率的灵敏检测和杂散光存在下的稳健操作。显微镜的功能得到表征和验证，并且通过纤维蛋白纤维网络和活细胞内的成像结构证明了成像能力。