Equipment: MRI: Track # 2 Development of a high-speed super-resolution stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscope

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy is a nonlinear optical imaging method for visualizing chemical content based on molecular vibrational bonds. SRS imaging technique has been rapidly developed in the last decade as a powerful spectral imaging tool, leading to significant discoveries in the life sciences. The state-of-the-art (SOA) SRS instrument has a spatial resolution of about 300nm and wide-field temporal resolution of about 30Hz, which is limited by the diffraction nature of the light and the relatively weak Raman scattering signals. A multidisciplinary team at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) with complementary expertise will develop the first super-resolution (SR) and high-speed SRS microscope, a metamaterial-enabled structured illumination microscope (MESIM), with >5X resolution enhancement and >100X Raman signal thus giving speed enhancement compared to the SOA. The new instrument may lead to new discoveries in life sciences and biomedical fields, including cell metabolism, neuroscience, medicine, and microbiology. The MESIM will be located in the Qualcomm Institute at UCSD, where it will be maintained during and after the award period. The instrument will be available to faculty members from UCSD and other academic institutions, and government and industrial collaborators and users. Intellectual merit A super-resolution high-speed imaging tool with vibrational bond sensitivity is critical not only for fundamental research to visualize new structures, identify new phenomena, understand life relevant activities, and create new diagnosis methods, it can also provide tremendous benefit to investigations of new disease treatment recipes. Most importantly, it can serve as a platform for development and practice of new approaches for efficiently probing and monitoring dynamics in nanoscales with molecular specificity and could evolve into an industry standard. Broader Impacts The broader impacts of this research are potentially wide-ranging. New imaging science and technology extend the knowledge boundary and could impact this age of biology by improving the quality of life. Construction of the proposed MESIM will be serving a wide area of Southern California, and the proposed microscope will benefit users throughout this and other geographic areas. The project will also play a significant role in the education and development of human resources in science and engineering at the graduate and undergraduate levels, helping to train future scientists and engineers in this multidisciplinary field. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.