Mid-infrared, hyperspectral, super resolution microscope

The mid-Infrared wavelength range (2-12 µm) houses the science of “vibrational spectroscopy” which has great potential as a diagnostics tool, since the backbone structure of complex molecules can be probed. Typical examples are tissue, food, plastics and a vast number of gasses. We propose a novel mid-infrared, hyperspectral microscope with super resolution, for probing the chemical composition of a cancer biopsy with sub-cellular resolution, providing new knowledge relevant for computer-assisted, label-free biopsy scanning in the future. A nature given problem, however, is that vibrational modes are located in the mid-infrared wavelength region. This circumstance poses a major detector sensitivity problem AND the long wavelengths prevents high spatial resolution microscopy. We propose a set-up that will circumvent these two challenges.