A method using standard, inexpensive components and software to generate ultra-short laser pulses of a quality currently available only from complex, costly systems, such as the Ti:Sapphire laser. Ultra-short laser pulses, shorter than 10 - 15 femtoseconds, are used in many applications including: multiphoton microscopy, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy, and femtochemistry. At this time, such precision ultra-short pulse lasers are largely cost prohibitive in many applications, relatively difficult and expensive to maintain, and tend to be unreliable. This laser system was designed to provide a cost effective alternative to current femtosecond lasers.
Applications:
- Research: multiphoton imaging, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy, femtochemistry, and selective gene transfection
- Medical: skin imaging and pathology using multiphoton imaging
Benefits:
- Ultra-short pulses: this technology allows tunable pulse compression capable of producing pulses ranging from 220 to 8.7 femtoseconds. Due to the simplicity of this system, once configured, the pulses are fully reproducible, need little maintenance and have excellent reliability.
- Size and portability: while Ti:Sapphire lasers require a significant amount of space, this system requires much less (it is roughly the size of a bread box) thereby allowing dramatically improved portability for easier translation to clinical applications, or inter-laboratory sharing and collaboration.
- Cost: at a fraction of the cost of a Ti:Sapphire laser, this invention provides a cost-effective alternative to all other commercially available femtosecond lasers.
- Reliability: the simple elegance of this laser system grants it excellent pulse reproducibility and reliability in contrast to currently available femtosecond lasers which, due to complexity and other factors, suffer from high maintenance costs and unreliability. Additionally, maintenance of this system is comparatively inexpensive because of its off-the-shelf standard components.