Structural analysis of blended materials using multiphoton autofluorescence and second harmonic generation microscopy

The purpose of this work is to investigate the microstructure of blended materials using non-invasive, optical imaging modality. Multiphoton autofluorescence and second harmonic generation signals will be used for characterizing and quantifying individual non-linear optical properties of each polymer in pure polymeric thin films. In addition, reflected confocal signals will used to outline the interface of refractive index mismatch. And the phase separation phenomenon of immiscible blended membranes composed of different ratio of nylon and chitosan are analyzed and differentiated using the non-invasive optical information including autofluerescence, second harmonic generation, and reflected signals. We therefore propose the potentiality of using multiphoton autofluorescence and second harmonic generation microscopy complemented with reflected confocal microscopy for studying the synthetic blended polymeric scaffolds and also, in the future, the dynamic, in vivo, cell-matrix interaction in the field of tissue engineering.