Exploring the effect of laser excitation wavelength on signal recovery with deep tissue transmission Raman spectroscopy

Abstract

The aim of this research was to find the optimal Raman excitation wavelength to attain the largest possible sensitivity in deep Raman spectroscopy of breast tissue. This involved careful consideration of factors such as tissue absorption, scattering, fluorescence and instrument response function. The study examined the tissue absorption profile combined with Raman scattering and detection sensitivity at seven different, laser excitation wavelengths in the near infrared region of the spectrum. Several key scenarios in regards to the sample position within the tissue were examined. The highest Raman band visibility over the background ratio in respect to biological tissue provides the necessary information for determining the optimum laser excitation wavelength for deep tissue analysis using transmission Raman spectroscopy, including detection of breast calcifications. For thick tissues with a mix of protein and fat, such as breast tissue, 790–810 nm is concluded to be the optimum excitation wavelength for deep Raman measurements.