Development of an Ultraviolet Raman Microspectrometer Applicable to Structural Analyzes of Cells

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Raman microspectroscopy is a useful technique to investigate the structures of micrometer-sized particles in a non-destructive manner. On the other hand, ultraviolet resonance Raman spectroscopy provides key information on the structures of proteins and nucleic acids. In this study, we have developed an ultraviolet Raman microspectrometer to exploit the utilities of both spectroscopic methods. The microspectrometer consists of a continous-wave ultraviolet laser, an ultraviolet microscope, and a Raman spectrometer. The ultraviolet laser beam is obtained by frequency-doubling visible laser light from an Ar^+ laser. The ultraviolet microscope is specially designed for high throughput in the ultraviolet region and high spatial resolution of microscopic images. Samples under a microscope objective are irradiated with ultraviolet laser light and the Raman scattered light was collected with the same objective and then guided to the Raman spectrometer, which has already been developed in our laboratory. We have succeeded to record some Raman spectra by using newly developed ultraviolet Raman microspectrometer.However, the sensitivity of the microspectrometer is not enough to investigate the structures of microparticles in living cells. We are planning to use an ultra-high-sensitivity CCD detector to detect even extremely weak Raman light and to apply the ultraviolet Raman microspectrometer to structural analyzes of living cells.