Compact ultrafast semiconductor disk laser for nonlinear imaging in living organisms

Rodrigo Aviles-Espinosa; G. Filippidis; Craig Hamilton; Graeme Malcolm; Kurt J. Weingarten; Thomas Südmeyer; Yohan Barbarin; Ursula Keller; David Artigas; Pablo Loza-Alvarez

doi:10.1117/12.874865

11 February 2011 Compact ultrafast semiconductor disk laser for nonlinear imaging in living organisms

Rodrigo Aviles-Espinosa, G. Filippidis, Craig Hamilton, Graeme Malcolm, Kurt J. Weingarten, Thomas Südmeyer, Yohan Barbarin, Ursula Keller, David Artigas, Pablo Loza-Alvarez

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7903, Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences XI; 79032T (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.874865
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2011, San Francisco, California, United States

Abstract

Ultrashort pulsed laser systems (such as Ti:sapphire) have been used in nonlinear microscopy during the last years. However, its implementation is not straight forward as they are maintenance-intensive, bulky and expensive. These limitations have prevented their wide-spread use for nonlinear imaging, especially in "real-life" biomedical applications. In this work we present the suitability of a compact ultrafast semiconductor disk laser source, with a footprint of 140x240x70 mm, to be used for nonlinear microscopy. The modelocking mechanism of the laser is based on a quantumdot semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM). The laser delivers an average output power of 287 mW with 1.5 ps pulses at 500 MHz, corresponding to a peak power of 0.4 kW. Its center wavelength is 965 nm which is ideally suited for two-photon excitation of the widely used Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) marker as it virtually matches its twophoton action cross section. We reveal that it is possible to obtain two photon excited fluorescence images of GFP labeled neurons and secondharmonic generation images of pharynx and body wall muscles in living C. elegans nematodes. Our results demonstrate that this compact laser is well suited for long-term time-lapse imaging of living samples as very low powers provide a bright signal. Importantly this non expensive, turn-key, compact laser system could be used as a platform to develop portable nonlinear bio-imaging devices, facilitating its wide-spread adoption in "real-life" applications.

Citation Download Citation

Rodrigo Aviles-Espinosa, G. Filippidis, Craig Hamilton, Graeme Malcolm, Kurt J. Weingarten, Thomas Südmeyer, Yohan Barbarin, Ursula Keller, David Artigas, and Pablo Loza-Alvarez "Compact ultrafast semiconductor disk laser for nonlinear imaging in living organisms", Proc. SPIE 7903, Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences XI, 79032T (11 February 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.874865

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available

Members: $17.00

Non-members: $21.00 ADD TO CART

PROCEEDINGS
7 PAGES

DOWNLOAD PAPER SAVE TO MY LIBRARY

GET CITATION

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Get copyright permission Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace

KEYWORDS

Green fluorescent protein

Second-harmonic generation

Semiconductor lasers

Semiconductors

Disk lasers

Laser applications

Laser systems engineering

Show All Keywords

Keywords/Phrases

Search In:

Publication Years