Applications of scanning femtosecond laser-induced ionization microscopy in biological imaging

Abstract

The applicability and potential advantages of femtosecond laser-induced ionization microscopy in examining biological samples are demonstrated. High-resolution section images of the inner structures and the topographical surface profiles of a piece of unstained onion skin and a human oral epithelium specimen are obtained by collecting the plasma emission signals generated either inside the samples or from air in the vicinity. It is concluded that the high material discrimination capability and the minimum damage effect give this laser-induced ionization imaging technique great potentials in the area of biological imaging and medical analyses.

Keywords

nonlinear microscopy / laser-tissue interaction / ultrafast laser / bio-imaging

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Acknowledgements

This project was supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 60637020). The authors would like to thank Wang M and Yang J for their technical assistance.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg