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Measurement of the Second Order Non-linear Susceptibility of Collagen using Polarization Modulation and Phase-sensitive Detection (open access)

Measurement of the Second Order Non-linear Susceptibility of Collagen using Polarization Modulation and Phase-sensitive Detection

The measurement of the second order nonlinear susceptibility of collagen in various biological tissues has potential applications in the detection of structural changes which are related to different pathological conditions. We investigate second harmonic generation in rat-tail tendon, a highly organized collagen structure consisting of parallel fibers. Using an electro-optic modulator and a quarter-wave plate, we modulate the linear polarization of an ultra-short pulse laser beam that is used to measure second harmonic generation (SHG) in a confocal microscopy setup. Phase-sensitive detection of the generated signal, coupled with a simple model of the collagen protein structures, allows us to measure a parameter {gamma} related to nonlinear susceptibility and to determine the relative orientation of the structures. Our preliminary results indicate that it may be possible to use this parameter to characterize the structure.
Date: March 3, 2001
Creator: Stoller, P.; Kim, B. M.; Rubenchik, A. M.; Reiser, K. M. & Da Silva, L. B.
System: The UNT Digital Library