1. An electronically tunable ultrafast laser source applied to fluorescence imaging and microscopy including fluorescence lifetime imaging
- Author
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Christopher Dunsby, Paul M. W. French, Bebhinn Treanor, Daniel S. Elson, Daniel M. Davis, Damian N. Schimpf, Peter M. P. Lanigan, J. Reqnejo-isidro, Björn Önfelt, Neil Galletly, E. Anksorius, Mark A. A. Neil, Fiona E. McCann, J. McGinty, Ian Munro, and P. A. A. De Beule
- Subjects
Fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy ,Materials science ,business.industry ,Fiber laser ,Femtosecond ,Microscopy ,Physics::Optics ,Optoelectronics ,Hyperspectral imaging ,business ,Fluorescence ,Ultrashort pulse ,Supercontinuum - Abstract
We demonstrate a continuously electronically tunable (435-1150 nm) ultrafast source for fluorescence imaging applications that is derived from a visible supercontinuum generated by injecting infrared femtosecond pulses in to a microstructured fibre. We demonstrate this source applied to confocal and wide-field microscopy, as well as multiwell-plate imaging. We also report first application of a tunable supercontinuum source (TSS) to FLIM and to in situ measurements of relative excitation spectra. We are currently applying this source to hyperspectral imaging and working towards a system for acquiring the full fluorescence excitation-emission matrix. Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) can provide further information about fluorescent samples and requires a rapidly modulated or pulsed light source, in general, (tunable) ultrafast light sources, particularly in the visible, are complex and expensive and usually require a significant degree of adjustment to achieve tunability
- Published
- 2006