Parametric Nonlinear Optical Techniques in Microscopy

Abstract

A small revolution is taking place in microscopy. Nonlinear optical spectroscopic techniques — which in bulk applications have been around almost since the invention of the laser in the sixties — are rapidly being incorporated within high resolution microscopy. Starting with the successful introduction of two-photon absorption microscopy in 1990 [1], which has found important applications in biology, a whole series of other nonlinear optical techniques have been introduced: Three-photon absorption, Second Harmonic Generation (SHG), Third Harmonic Generation (THG), Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS), the optical Kerr effect,...