Plant cell walls are highly complex structures, which are adaptable to various environmental stresses. While the mechanisms on reaction to stresses are already researched, there is no common conception on how the signalling pathways are initialized. The same holds true for plant diseases that change the mechanical structure of the cell wall. Here we demonstrate a combined confocal Brillouin- and Raman-scattering setup which can evaluate the cell wall mechanics in plant tissue and has the potential to monitor signalling hormones of the plant cells due to changes in mechanical stiffness.

The arising 3D printing technologies, e.g. for optical waveguides, open new possibilities for the production of optical devices. Using two-photon polymerization (2PP), arbitrary structures with resolution below the diffraction limit can be manufactured, thus allowing for new and versatile applications in photonics. Recent demonstration of phononic metamaterials using 2PP fabrication rely on homogenous mechanical properties of the employed photopolymer. The polymerization process can be used as process parameter to develop adaptable phononic crystals. To characterize the state of polymerization process, we demonstrate a new combined optical Brillouin- and Raman-scattering setup.