Raman detection of cell proliferation probes with antiresonance-guiding hollow fibers

Antiresonance-guiding hollow-core fibers are shown to enable highly sensitive detection of cell proliferation probes using Raman scattering within the region where the cellular Raman activity is minimal. We demonstrate that such fibers can substantially reduce the level of the background compared to standard index-guiding optical fibers, thus radically improving the sensitivity of Raman detection of DNA synthesis in cells and offering a powerful tool for fiber-based live-cell imaging. © 2012 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 170.5660, 230.7370. Integration of advanced fiber-optic components with the cutting-edge concepts and approaches in optical imaging helps confront the most challenging problems of the life sciences, offering unique tools to look inside living cells [1,2], examine brain functions [3,4], and analyze gene expression [5]. Rapidly progressing fiber-optic tech-nologies provide an advanced platform for the creation of novel fiber-based imaging systems [6,7], optical endo-scopes [2], optical neural interfaces [3], and sensors fo