Snapshot depth sensitive Raman spectroscopy in layered tissues

Depth sensitive Raman spectroscopy has been shown effective in the detection of depth dependent Raman spectra in layered tissues. However, the current techniques for depth sensitive Raman measurements based on fiber-optic probes suffer from poor depth resolution and significant variation in probe-sample contact. In contrast, those lens based techniques either require the change in objective-sample distance or suffer from slow spectral acquisition. We report a snapshot depth-sensitive Raman technique based on an axicon lens and a ring-to-line fiber assembly to simultaneously acquire Raman signals emitted from five different depths in the non-contact manner without moving any component. A numerical tool was developed to simulate ray tracing and optimize the snapshot depth sensitive setup to achieve the tradeoff between signal collection efficiency and depth resolution for Raman measurements in the skin. Moreover, the snapshot system was demonstrated to be able to acquire depth sensitive Raman spectra from not only transparent and turbid skin phantoms but also from ex vivo pork tissues and in vivo human thumbnails when the excitation laser power was limited to the maximum permissible exposure for human skin. The results suggest the great potential of snapshot depth sensitive Raman spectroscopy in the characterization of the skin and other layered tissues in the clinical setting or other similar applications such as quality monitoring of tablets and capsules in pharmaceutical industry requiring the rapid measurement of depth dependent Raman spectra.