Light amplification and nonlinear microscopy by stimulated Raman scattering

The Stimulated Raman Scattering has important connections with nanophotonics and biophotonics. Concerning nanophotonics, one of the most recent challenges is the investigation of ‘nonlinear optical phenomena at nanoscale’. Among them, stimulated Raman scattering is one of the most interesting, due to its significant implications from both fundamental and applicative point of view. In this paper, comparison among experimental investigations of stimulated Raman scattering in amorphous silicon nanoparticles and in silicon micro- and nano-crystals, at the wavelengths of interest for telecommunications, are reported. In addition, concerning biophotonics, first, the implementation of femtosecond Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy (f-SRS), as a single point of scanning microscopy, is described. Then, the integration of f-SRS in a laser scanning microscope and label free imaging of polystyrene-beads are demonstrated.