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Whereas most of the reports on the nonlinear properties of micro- and nanostructures address the generation of distinct signals, such as second or third harmonic, we recently demonstrated that the novel generation of dual output lasers developed for microscopy can readily increase the accessible parameter space and enable the simultaneous excitation and detection of multiple emission orders such as several harmonics and signals stemming from various sum and difference frequency mixing processes. [1] This rich response, which in our case features 10 distinct emissions and encompasses the whole spectral range from the deep ultraviolet to the short-wave infrared region, is demonstrated using various nonlinear oxide nanomaterials while being characterized and simulated temporally and spectrally.

International audience; Whereas most of the reports on the nonlinear properties of micro- and nanostructures address the generation of distinct signals, such as second or third harmonic, here we demonstrate that the novel generation of dual output lasers recently developed for microscopy can readily increase the accessible parameter space and enable the simultaneous excitation and detection of multiple emission orders such as several harmonics and signals stemming from various sum and difference frequency mixing processes. This rich response, which in our case features 10 distinct emissions and encompasses the whole spectral range from the deep ultraviolet to the short-wave infrared region, is demonstrated using various nonlinear oxide nanomaterials while being characterized and simulated temporally and spectrally. Notably, we show that the response is conserved when the particles are embedded in biological media opening the way to novel biolabeling and phototriggering strategies.

While chemotherapy is one of the most used treatments in oncology, the systemic administration of chemotherapeutics generally results in undesired damages to healthy tissues and cells, side effects such as severe nausea and leukopenia, and reduced efficacy due to multidrug resistance and poor target accessibility. The limitations of conventional chemotherapy formulation have prompted the development of alternative nanomaterials‐based strategies to achieve targeted and stimuli sensitive payload delivery to reach optimal local drug concentration at tumor sites. In this study, the anticancer drug chlorambucil (Clb) was conjugated to the surface of silica coated lithium niobate (LNO) harmonic nanoparticles (HNPs) using a photocaging tether based on coumarin‐4‐yl methyl derivative. Upon laser pulsed femtosecond irradiation at 790 nm, the second harmonic emission from the metal oxide core induced the efficient release of Clb, with concomitant contribution from the nonlinear absorption of the coumarin (CM)‐based moiety.

We introduce a nonlinear all-optical theranostics protocol based on the excitation wavelength decoupling between imaging and photoinduced damage of human cancer cells labeled by bismuth ferrite (BFO) harmonic nanoparticles (HNPs). To characterize the damage process, we rely on a scheme for in situ temperature monitoring based on upconversion nanoparticles: by spectrally resolving the emission of silica coated NaGdF4:Yb3+/Er3+ nanoparticles in close vicinity of a BFO HNP, we show that the photointeraction upon NIR-I excitation at high irradiance is associated with a temperature increase >100 °C. The observed laser–cell interaction implies a permanent change of the BFO nonlinear optical properties, which can be used as a proxy to read out the outcome of a theranostics procedure combining imaging at 980 nm and selective cell damage at 830 nm. The approach has potential applications to monitor and treat lesions within NIR light penetration depth in tissues.

The design of stimuli-responsive nanocarriers has raised much attention to achieve higher local concentration of therapeutics and mitigate the appearance of drug resistance. The combination of imaging properties and controlled photorelease of active molecules within the same nanoconjugate has a great potential for theranostic applications. In this study, a system for NIR light-triggered release of molecular cargos induced by the second harmonic emission from bismuth ferrite harmonic nanoparticles (BFO HNPs) is presented. Silica-coated BFO HNPs were covalently conjugated to a photocaging tether based on coumarin (CM) and l-tryptophan (Trp) as a model molecular cargo. Upon femtosecond pulsed irradiation at 790 nm, Trp was efficiently released from the NP surface in response to the harmonic emission of the nanomaterial at 395 nm. The emitted signal induced the photocleavage of the CM-Trp carbamate linkage resulting in the release of Trp, which was monitored and quantified by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS). While a small fraction of the uncaging process could be attributed to the nonlinear absorption of CM derivatives, the main trigger responsible for Trp release was established as the second harmonic signal from BFO HNPs. This strategy may provide a new way for the application of functionalized HNPs in dual imaging delivery theranostic protocols.

We demonstrate the simultaneous generation of second, third, and fourth harmonic from a single dielectric Bismuth Ferrite nanoparticle excited by a telecom fiber laser at 1560 nm. We first characterize the signals associated with different nonlinear orders in terms of spectrum, excitation intensity dependence, and relative signal strengths. Successively, on the basis of the polarization-resolved emission curves of the three harmonics, we discuss the interplay of susceptibility tensor components at the different orders and we show how polarization can be used as an optical handle to control the relative frequency conversion properties., Comment: include S.I. section at the end of the main pdf file

We demonstrate the simultaneous generation of more than four harmonics from individual dielectric nanoparticles excited by a telecom fiber laser at 1560. We discuss the possibility to control their relative intensities by the laser polarization.

In femtosecond optical transfection and nanosurgery, cell survival critically depends on phototoxicity. It is therefore of primary importance to optimize the laser-cell interaction in order to increase the membrane poration efficiency while reducing collateral cell damage. Baumert group studied the impact of spectral phase modulation of femtosecond for machining on glass substrate. They demonstrated that the use of third order phase pulses (Airy pulses) could modulate the photon-interaction leading to holes of higher aspect ratio, compared to those produced by femtosecond bandwidth limited pulses. Following this approach, we showed that optimally shaped temporal Airy pulses display better performances also on fixed biological samples. In fact, Airy pulses can increase the cell membrane poration efficiency for a lower peak intensity and a similar energy per pulse than bandwith limited femtosecond pulses. We also discuss results from a live cell experiment. We set up a protocol where we investigate cells poration efficiency and cell viability as a function of pulse spectral phase. Hence, we present a protocol based on the use of three fluorophores to assess cells viability at different time points after poration.

We report on the first study of live cell opto-poration by single temporally shaped femtosecond laser pulses. Based on an ad hoc developed cell staining protocol, we demonstrate the influence of the pulse temporal profile on the efficiency of poration and on cell viability at four hours comparing the results obtained for four different temporal pulse shapes: positive and negative temporal Airy, positively chirped, and 30 fs bandwidth limited pulses. Each pulse has been tested on a thousand cells. The most suitable pulses for opto-poration are the positive Temporal Airy Pulses (TAP+), likely because they enhance avalanche ionization compared to bandwidth-limited shorter pulses. We discuss the results in the context of previous studies, highlighting the differences between single and multi-pulse opto-poration strategies.

Nanoparticle-based drug delivery systems have the potential for increasing the efficiency of chemotherapeutics by enhancing the drug accumulation at specific target sites, thereby reducing adverse side effects and mitigating patient acquired resistance. In particular, photo-responsive nanomaterials have attracted much interest due to their ability to release molecular cargos on demand upon light irradiation. In some settings, they can also provide complementary information by optical imaging on the (sub)cellular scale. We herein present a system based on lithium niobate harmonic nanoparticles (LNO HNPs) for the decoupled multi-harmonic cell imaging and near-infrared light-triggered delivery of an erlotinib derivative (ELA) for the treatment of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-overexpressing carcinomas. The ELA cargo was covalently conjugated to the surface of silica-coated LNO HNPs through a coumarinyl photo-cleavable linker, achieving a surface loading of the active molecule of 27 nmol/mg NPs. The resulting nanoconjugates (LNO-CM-ELA NPs) were successfully imaged upon pulsed laser excitation at 1250 nm in EGFR-overexpressing human prostate cancer cells DU145 by detecting the second harmonic emission at 625 nm, in the tissue transparency window. Tuning the laser at 790 nm resulted in the uncaging of the ELA cargo as a result of the second harmonic emission of the inorganic HNP core at 395 nm. This protocol induced a significant growth inhibition in DU145 cells, which was only observed upon specific irradiation at 790 nm, highlighting the promising capabilities of LNO-CM-ELA NPs for theranostic applications.