Non-steady state thermometry with optical diffraction tomography

Label-free thermometry is a pivotal tool for many disciplines. However, most current approaches are only suitable for planar heat sources in steady state, thereby restricting the range of systems that can be reliably studied. Here, we introduce pump probe-based optical diffraction tomography (ODT) as a method to map temperature precisely and accurately in three dimensions (3D) at the single-particle level. To do so, we first systematically characterize the thermal landscape in a model system consisting of gold nanorods in a microchamber and then benchmark the results against simulations and quantitative phase imaging thermometry. We then apply ODT thermometry to resolve thermal landscapes inaccessible to other label-free approaches in the form of nonplanar heat sources embedded in complex environments and freely diffusing gold nanorods in a microchamber. Last, we foresee that our approach will find many applications where routine thermal characterization of heterogeneous nanoparticles samples in 3D or in non-steady state is required.