Numerical analysis of the influence of thermal diffusion on the performance of mid-infrared photothermal microscopy techniques: point scanning versus wide-field

Mid-infrared photothermal (MIP) microscopy can be categorized into point-scanning (PS) and wide-field (WF) configurations, each having independently achieved substantial technical advancements. Because MIP microscopy utilizes thermal effects as a detection signal, the well-known properties of conventional PS and WF microscopy cannot be straightforwardly applied to evaluate MIP imaging performance. In this study, we present comparative analyses of MIP imaging performances between PS and WF configurations with respect to spatial resolution and detection sensitivity by simulating the spatiotemporal variation of the MIP effect through thermal conduction calculation.