Brillouin Microscopy
Brillouin Microscopy - Related Videos
08:27
Mechanical Mapping of Spheroids Using Brillouin Spectroscopy
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2025
This article describes a protocol for mechanical characterisation of living spheroids within a 3D matrix using Brillouin micro-spectroscopy. This all-optical method enables spheroid visualisation with microscale resolution and quantitative mechanical properties. This approach has implications for mechanical phenotyping; for instance, determining pathological states of tumor spheroids within a 3D microenvironment.
07:19
Preparation of Extracellular Matrix Protein Fibers for Brillouin Spectroscopy
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Cited by 20 •
2016
We present a protocol for the application of Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy to elastin and trypsin-purified type I collagen fibers of the extracellular matrix to extract their full elastic properties.
07:55
High-speed Continuous-wave Stimulated Brillouin Scattering Spectrometer for Material Analysis
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Cited by 7 •
2017
We describe the construction of a rapid continuous-wave-stimulated-Brillouin-scattering (CW-SBS) spectrometer. The spectrometer employs single-frequency diode-lasers and an atomic vapor notch-filter to acquire transmission spectra of turbid/non-turbid samples with high spectral-resolution at speeds up to 100-fold faster than those of existing CW-SBS spectrometers. This improvement enables high-speed Brillouin material analysis.
13:31
High Speed Sub-GHz Spectrometer for Brillouin Scattering Analysis
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Cited by 42 •
2015
Here we present a protocol to build a rapid Brillouin spectrometer. Cascading virtually imaged phase array (VIPA) etalons achieve a measurement speed more than 1,000 times faster than traditional scanning Fabry-Perot spectrometers. This improvement provides the means for Brillouin analysis of tissue and biomaterials at low power levels in vivo.
11:16
Correlative Light- and Electron Microscopy Using Quantum Dot Nanoparticles
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Cited by 12 •
2016
A method is described whereby quantum dot (QD) nanoparticles can be used for correlative immunocytochemical studies of epoxy embedded human pathology tissue. We employ commercial antibody fragment conjugated QDs that are visualized by widefield fluorescence light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.
FAQs
The measurement begins when incident light interacts with thermally driven acoustic waves inside a biological material. This interaction produces a small frequency shift in the scattered light. Because the shift is related to the material’s longitudinal viscoelastic modulus, mapping the shift across a sample reveals spatial differences in its mechanical properties.
Thermally driven acoustic waves provide the moving structures that interact with the incident light. Their interaction generates the Brillouin frequency shift, which carries information about the material’s longitudinal viscoelastic modulus. Detecting this shift allows mechanical measurements to be obtained optically, rather than through direct physical contact with cells or developing tissues.
Spatially varying frequency shifts can reveal differences in longitudinal viscoelastic modulus between intracellular regions, cells, and tissue areas. These differences allow researchers to visualize mechanical heterogeneity rather than treating an embryo or organoid as mechanically uniform. The resulting maps can then be considered alongside developmental changes in tissue structure and organization.
Brillouin microscopy obtains mechanical information through optical detection of Brillouin scattering, so it does not require a physical probe to contact the sample. Its label-free, noncontact operation supports measurements across cells, embryos, and organoids while generating three-dimensional mechanical maps. This makes it suited to examining internal mechanical variation during tissue development.
Researchers illuminate the biological sample, detect the small frequency shifts produced when light interacts with thermally driven acoustic waves, and collect those measurements throughout the specimen. The spatially collected shifts are used to generate three-dimensional maps of longitudinal viscoelastic properties. Applying the same approach across cells, embryos, or organoids enables mechanical comparisons within developing systems.
In developmental biology, the method helps relate changing cellular material properties to morphogenesis, differentiation, and tissue organization. Measurements can show where mechanical properties vary within developing cells or tissues, while three-dimensional mapping preserves their spatial context. These data help researchers examine how physical forces and material changes accompany the formation and organization of developing structures.