Coherent fiber supercontinuum laser for nonlinear biomedical imaging

Abstract

Nonlinear biomedical imaging has not benefited from the well-known techniques of fiber supercontinuum generation for reasons such as poor coherence (or high noise), insufficient controllability, low spectral power intensity, and inadequate portability. Fortunately, a few techniques involving nonlinear fiber optics and femtosecond fiber laser development have emerged to overcome these critical limitations. These techniques pave the way for conducting point-of-care nonlinear biomedical imaging by a low-maintenance cost-effective coherent fiber supercontinuum laser, which covers a broad emission wavelength of 350-1700 nm. A prototype of this laser has been demonstrated in label-free multimodal nonlinear imaging of cell and tissue samples.