One Plus One Equals Three Multi-line fiber lasers for nonlinear microscopy

Any biomedical technique needs to prove its applicability in day-to-day research and diagnosis, not only in “hero-experiments”. And the success of a new imaging method significantly depends on the cost and complexity of the employed instrument with the laser playing a major part in both aspects. This is especially true when ultrashort laser pulses are required which is the case for all nonlinear imaging techniques. In this article, we will discuss the advantages of fiber lasers for integrated instruments and present a new cost-effective and maintenance-free fiber laser concept that provides femtosecond pulses at three fixed wavelengths. This allows exciting all conventional fluorescent markers and enables simultaneous multi-color 2-photon imaging with short acquisition times.