Combined phase-sensitive acoustic microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy.

Combined phase-sensitive acoustic microscopy (PSAM) at 1.2 GHz and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) in reflection and fluorescence has been implemented and applied to polymer blend films and fluorescently labeled fibroblasts and neuronal cells in order to explore the prospects and the various contrast mechanisms of this powerful technique. Topographic contrast is available for appropriate samples from CLSM in reflection and, with significantly higher precision, from the acoustic phase images. Material contrast can be gained from acoustic amplitude V(z) graphs. In the case of the biological cells investigated, the optical and acoustic images are very different and exhibit different features of the samples.