Title: “Progress in chemical imaging to record structure and chemistry in biological materials”
Speaker: Rohit Bhargava, Founder Professor in Bioengineering, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.
Infrared (IR) spectroscopic imaging allows the recording of molecular and structural properties of complex samples without the need for prior information on composition, dyes, or stains. The spatial and spectral domains are coupled, presenting both opportunities and challenges for recording high-content, high-fidelity data that determine image quality. Dr. Bhargava first provides an optical theoretic and information theoretic approach to present a roadmap for the development of optical microscopy-based imaging. His team's research shows how spatial quality is related to spectral data and provides explicit relationships to devise imaging configurations at performance limits. He will show how molecular content over large areas can be recorded by new high-speed microscopy configurations and present rigorous approaches to extending molecular understanding with linear and circularly polarized light. Finally, Dr. Bhargava will present a detailed theoretical understanding of image formation in nanoscale spectroscopic imaging using an atomic force microscope in contact mode. A new method, based on null deflection of the cantilever, is introduced to provide high-quality data.
