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ABSTRACT: We report on the compression of intense ultrashort laser pulses for the purpose of producing few-cycle optical pulses at the multimillijoule level by using a planar waveguide (PWG). The PWG is composed of two parallel glass slabs separated by a gap of 100 microm and mounted in a gas chamber filled with a noble gas. In comparison with the conventional hollow-fiber-based pulse compression technique, the use of a PWG enables the injection of high-energy ultrashort pulses, because the input laser beam is confined only in the lateral direction perpendicular to the waveguide plane. Using this technique, we demonstrate the generation of 12 fs, 2 mJ laser pulses in an argon-filled PWG.
Optics Letters 01/2009; 33(24):2992-4. · 3.40 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Coherent control based on a feedback-controlled self-learning loop was applied to enhance the ratio of two-photon (2P) fluorescence from a fluorescent label enhanced green fluorescence protein and three-photon (3P) fluorescence from the essential amino acid L-Tryptophan. The two biosamples were mixed in a buffer solution contained in a quartz cuvette and exposed to near-infrared laser pulses from a femtosecond (fs) oscillator. However, the enhancement of the 2P/3P fluorescence ratio was always accompanied by a significant loss of the valuable 2P fluorescence. To achieve a trade-off between the 2P/3P fluorescence ratio and the 2P fluorescence intensity, we then engineered the cost function in the self-learning algorithm. The optimal pulse shape obtained by use of the engineered cost function could be useful for 2P fluorescence imaging of living cells with reduced phototoxicity, because DNA and protein can be directly damaged by 3P absorption of fs laser according to an excitation band ~270nm.
Optics Express 08/2004; 12(15):3408-14. · 3.59 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: In 4Pi fluorescence microscopy the point-spread function is composed of a strong central lobe accompanied by interference sidelobes that produce artifacts in the image. We propose to combine two-color two-photon fluorescence microscopy and 4Pi fluorescence microscopy to overcome this sidelobe problem. Simulation results show that a single sharp fluorescence spot can be produced by use of two excitation wavelengths of 400 and 800 nm and detected at 350-nm emission wavelength.
Optics Letters 07/2004; 29(12):1354-6. · 3.40 Impact Factor
