Disclosed is an imaging apparatus for IR four-wave mixing polarization
microscopy. The apparatus can include pump and probe beam sources, a
polarizer, a beam combiner, a scanner, an optical focusing system, a
collecting optical system, a dichroic beam splitter, a polarizing beam
splitter, a photodetector, a polarization differential detector, and a
data analyzer. The technology can be used to obtain a molecular
vibrational microscopic image using a polarization-dependent nonlinear
spectroscopic signal obtained through the focusing and spatial scanning
of multi-wavelength laser beams in a sample.