Comparison of image-formation properties of coherent nonlinear microscopy by means of double-sided Feynman diagrams

摘要

We report a theoretical study on the optical resolution of coherent nonlinear microscopy by means of double-sided Feynman diagrams. Through the use of the diagrams, we offer a simple techniqueto calculate the coherent transfer function (CTF), which is employed as the indicator of the optical resolution. In particular, we deal with the CTFs of coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy. Our results show that CARS and SRS microscopy possess nearly identical optical resolutions if a molecularvibrational frequency of interest is assumed to be negligible compared with excitation photon energy. The peculiar image-formation properties of third-harmonic generation (THG) microscopy also can be explained by our technique.