Femtosecond Fiber Lasers Based on Dissipative Processes for Nonlinear Microscopy

Abstract

Recent progress in the development of femtosecond-pulse fiber lasers with parameters appropriate for nonlinear microscopy is reviewed. Pulse-shaping in lasers with only normal-dispersion components is briefly described, and the performance of the resulting lasers is summarized. Fiber lasers based on the formation of dissipative solitons now offer performance competitive with that of solid-state lasers, but with the benefits of the fiber medium. Lasers based on self-similar pulse evolution in the gain section of a laser also offer a combination of short pulse duration and high pulse energy that will be attractive for applications in nonlinear bioimaging.

Multimodal fiber source for nonlinear microscopy based on a dissipative soliton laser

“…This is the first demonstration that dissipative soliton lasers can provide a route to a Raman scattering microscopy source. In addition, the dissipative soliton laser can produce high energy femtosecond pulses at 1040 nm that are suitable for other imaging modalities, such as TPEF and SHG microscopy [20][21][22], and the wavelength tunability could be extended by using the pulses to pump a fiber OPO optimized for femtosecond pulse generation. Although the source is not yet quiet enough for SRS microscopy with direct detection, this device provides RIN levels comparable to the best achieved by fiber sources to date and could be further optimized for low-noise operation through the design of the laser and through energy scaling with large core fibers.…”

“…By utilizing a high-power femtosecond fiber laser [18,19] for the pump pulse, the same robust platform is capable of producing picosecond and femtosecond pulses near 1040 nm. The high energy femtosecond pulses from this laser have been used for TPEF and SHG microscopy [20][21][22], so the source presented here provides suitable pulses for multiphoton and harmonic-generation imaging with a single exci-tation wavelength, as well as CARS microscopy. As an additional motivation, SRS microscopy stands to benefit from an ultra-low noise fiber source.…”

Optimizing pulse compressibility in completely all-fibered Ytterbium chirped pulse amplifiers for in vivo two photon laser scanning microscopy

“…Femtosecond fiber lasers are very attractive alternatives to solid state lasers as excitation sources for MPM [6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. They can be designed to be environmentally stable, in an all-fiberintegrated architecture, are intrinsically suitable for integration with endoscopic instrumentation and can enable access to new operation parameters that are very challenging to realize with solid state laser sources, such as e.g.…”

Label-free multi-photon imaging using a compact femtosecond fiber laser mode-locked by carbon nanotube saturable absorber

“…Fiber lasers, on the other hand, are quite attractive owing to their compactness, freedom from alignment issues and potentially much lower cost. Recently, there has been a strong push to develop low cost fiber lasers for MPI [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Promising results have been published, but it is not yet clear if fiber lasers will be able to fully replace the standard Ti:sa laser for MPI.…”

“…Ultrafast fiber lasers have been successfully used for MPI [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Yb 3+ -doped fiber lasers can be applied directly to perform TPEF, SHG and THG imaging.…”