Early detection of cancer is becoming increasingly important in modern society. The coupling of a scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) to a source of infrared (IR) allows to obtain chemical contrast images in the infrared region between 2 and 10 microns. On this range of the spectrum, the changes in the distribution of chemical bonds within the cell are observed with high spatial resolution . The SNOM-IR technique is used to analyze biological tissues identifying any chemical and biomolecular alteration associated with precancerous lesions, with the aim of early detection of the appearance of the tumor. The method was successfully applied to the recognition of chemical differences between normal and diseased cells of the esophagus and cancer of the cervix. In this case the free electrons laser source of Daresbury has been used. New quantum cascade lasers that cover the same energy range are being used to obtain results on other cancers.
Staff: Antonio Cricenti, Mario D’Acunto, Innocenzo Sammarco, Olivia Pulci, Marco Luce,Marco Ortenzi, Massimiliano Rinaldi
English (UK) 
Italiano (Italia)