A team led by DESY scientist Tim Laarmann has successfully detected the vibrational fingerprints of glucose molecules in aqueous solution using a nonlinear optical method in the mid-infrared spectral range called ultra-broadband vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) spectroscopy. The centerpiece of this study is a state-of-the-art VSFG spectrometer that operates effectively at physiologically relevant low sample concentrations in the range of 10 mM, or about...