Widely-tunable single fiber laser OPO for multimodal microscopy

Abstract

Raman microscopy is a key technique for biological imaging since it can provide valuable information about the chemical constituents of a sample without any labels. However, because two wavelengths are required for either CARS or SRS to occur, most Raman imaging set ups use multiple lasers with complicated synchronization requirements. In this presentation, we discuss the design and performance of a tunable Ytterbium-based fiber laser and an optical parametric oscillator for Raman microscopy. Our system uses a single laser that creates both pump and probe beams via nonlinear optical effects. Due to its reasonable high peak power, this laser system is a suitable light source for multimodal microscopy using both Raman and multiphoton imaging functionalities.