Low cost laser system generating 26-fs pulse duration, 30-kW peak power, and tunability from 800 to 1200 nm for multiphoton microscopy

Bojan Resan; Felix Brunner; Andreas Rohrbacher; Hubert Ammann; Kurt J. Weingarten

doi:10.1117/12.908537

9 February 2012 Low cost laser system generating 26-fs pulse duration, 30-kW peak power, and tunability from 800 to 1200 nm for multiphoton microscopy

Bojan Resan, Felix Brunner, Andreas Rohrbacher, Hubert Ammann, Kurt J. Weingarten

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8226, Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences XII; 82262Y (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.908537
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2012, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel low-cost, low-noise, tunable, high-peak-power, ultrafast laser system based on a SESAMmodelocked, solid-state Yb tungstate laser plus spectral broadening via a microstructured fiber followed by pulse compression. The spectral selection, tuning, and pulse compression are performed with a simple prism compressor. The spectral broadening and fiber parameters are chosen to insure low-noise and short pulse operation of the tunable output. The long-term stable output pulses are tunable from 800 to 1200 nm, with a peak power up to 30 kW and pulse duration down to 26 fs. We demonstrate the generation of an output beam with 30 fs pulsewidth and multiple colors in infrared. In particular, we compressed selected spectral slices centered at 960 and 1100 nm suitable for imaging with green fluorescent protein and red dyes. Such a multicolor, 30 fs laser is ideally suited for simultaneous multispectral multiphoton imaging. This system is attractive for variety of applications including multiphoton (TPE, SHG, THG, CARS) and multimodal microscopy, nanosurgery, and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Such system is simpler, lower-cost, and much easier to use (fully turn-key) compared to a currently available solutions for near-infrared ultrashort pulses, typically a Ti:sapphire laser-pumped OPO.

Citation Download Citation

Bojan Resan, Felix Brunner, Andreas Rohrbacher, Hubert Ammann, and Kurt J. Weingarten "Low cost laser system generating 26-fs pulse duration, 30-kW peak power, and tunability from 800 to 1200 nm for multiphoton microscopy", Proc. SPIE 8226, Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences XII, 82262Y (9 February 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.908537

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