Patent ID: 8633437

Claim:
A system comprising: (a) a laser operable to emit a first laser pulse having a duration equal to or less than 20 femtoseconds; (b) a programmed controller; (c) a pulse shaper controlled by the controller to correct phase distortions in a path of the pulse and optimized to cause selective stimulated Raman scattering at a specific molecular bond frequency and not at other undesired frequencies, the pulse shaper being operable to control a phase of the pulse; (d) a second narrower-bandwidth pulse detuned from the first pulse carrying a probe photon, the second pulse being delayed from the first pulse by less than about 10 picoseconds; (e) a telescope focusing at least one of the pulses at a specimen; and (f) a detector operable to detect both coherent and spontaneous Raman characteristics of the specimen caused by at least one of the pulses striking the specimen, the laser and detector being remotely located at least 10 meters away from the specimen during the emission and detection.