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  • Review Article
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Recent advances in fibre lasers for nonlinear microscopy

Nature Photonics volume 7, pages 875–882 (2013)Cite this article

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A Corrigendum to this article was published on 28 October 2013

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Abstract

Nonlinear microscopy techniques developed over the past two decades have provided dramatic new capabilities for biological imaging. The initial demonstrations of nonlinear microscopies coincided with the development of solid-state femtosecond lasers, which continue to be the dominant light source for applications of nonlinear microscopy. Fibre lasers offer attractive features for biological and biomedical imaging, and recent advances are promising for the development of high-performance sources with the potential for realizing integrated instruments that are robust and inexpensive. This Review discusses recent advances, and identifies challenges and opportunities for fibre lasers in nonlinear bioimaging.

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Figure 1: Dissipative soliton laser and pulses.
Figure 2: Two-photon fluorescence images obtained using excitation from a dissipative–soliton fibre laser.
Figure 3: Attenuation length in brain tissue as a function of wavelength.
Figure 4: SSFS in a photonic-crystal rod and in vivo 3PM of subcortical structures in a mouse brain.
Figure 5: Fibre source for CARS microscopy and imaging of mouse tissue.

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  • 28 October 2013

    In the version of this Review Article originally published online and in print, no competing financial interests were declared. However, the authors wish to acknowledge relevant patents. The competing financial interests statement in the HTML and PDF versions of the Review Article has been modified.

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Acknowledgements

Portions of this work were supported by the National Institutes of Health (EB002019, R01CA133148, R01EB014873 and R21RR032392) and the National Science Foundation (ECCS-0901323, BIS-0967949).

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  1. School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853, New York, USA

    C. Xu & F. W. Wise

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Competing interests

F. W. Wise is a named inventor on US patent US 8,416,817 B2 (publication date 04.09.2008, filing date 18.09.2007) and Chinese patent number 200780042670.8, which are related to the dissipative-soliton laser described in this Review Article. European patent application number 7873804.4 has been filed on the same subject. Wise has also submitted a patent application relating to picosecond-pulse sources for coherent anti-Stokes Raman microscopy (international patent PCT/US/2012/058817 (publication date 11.04.2013, filing date 04.10.2011).

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Xu, C., Wise, F. Recent advances in fibre lasers for nonlinear microscopy. Nature Photon 7, 875–882 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.284

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