Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering through thick biological tissues by single wavefront shaping

Abstract: Coherent Anti Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) offers many advantages for nonlinear bio-imaging, thanks to its sub-cellular spatial resolution and unique chemical specificity. Its working principle requires two incident pulsed laser beams with distinct frequencies to be focused in space and time, which focus quality however rapidly deteriorates when propagating at large depths in biological tissues. The depth limits of CARS and the capability of wavefront correction to overcome these limits are currently unknown. In this work we exploit the spectral correlation properties of the transmission matrix of a scattering medium in a pulsed regime, to recover coherent focusing for two distant incident CARS wavelengths which propagation is initially uncorrelated. Using wavefront shaping with a single spatial light modulator, we recover CARS generation through thick mice spinal cord tissues where initially no signal is measurable due to scattering, and demonstrate point scanning over large field of views of tens of micrometers.