920 nm fiber laser delivering 100 fs pulses for nonlinear microscopy

This presentation focuses on ultrafast fiber lasers as excitation light-source for advanced microscopy. We will present our latest innovations and show how multiphoton microscopy can benefit from these developments. This will propel imaging techniques like TPEF, SHG, CARS or STED among others that excel conventional microscopy techniques in a deeper penetration depth, label-free imaging capability or higher spatial resolution. Wavelengths around 900 nm for addressing certain applications with fluorescent proteins and pulse durations as short as 100 fs remain a challenge for fiber lasers. TOPTICA has now launched the third generation of ultrafast fiber lasers overcoming these difficulties. The novel FF ultra laser platform is capable of generating such short pulses at not only the wavelengths 780 nm and 1050 nm but most recently at 920 nm too. This enables the imaging of the popular green fluorescent protein (GFP) and its derivatives with lowest possible power level because of the high efficiency. In the course of this work, we present selected applications proving the suitability of this industrial grade laser family for a broad variety of microscopic applications.