Automated Femtosecond Fiber Delivery for Multiphoton Microscopy

Completely replacing the free-space paths between a Watt-level femtosecond laser and a two-photon microscope is a game-changer for modern microscopy. Delivering femtosecond pulses directly from the laser source to the microscope via an optical fiber enables completely new microscope designs and brings laser safety and ease of use to a new level. For example, it has been demonstrated that miniaturized, lightweight microscopes can be head-mounted on freely moving animals in order to study neuronal activity with minimal influence on the animal's natural behavior.

Other new implementations are endoscopic or hand-held devices equipped with nonlinear imaging capabilities. Thirdly, maneuverable microscopes which can rotate in almost every angle around the sample, potentially even mounted on robotic arms, provide new flexibility and access to samples. Polarization-maintaining hollow-core fibers are commercially available nowadays. In combination with proprietary constant optical output level (COOL) technology, a hands-off automated fiber coupling can be developed that eliminates manual alignment at installation, optimizes fiber coupling, and monitors fiber coupling efficiency internally.

About the presenter
Luisa works as a product manager for femtosecond fiber lasers at Toptica Photonics SE. She also had positions as a sales manager at Class 5 Photonics, in intellectual property at Hewlett Packard and as a consultant at Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

She studied physics at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich. She completed her master's thesis and was a scientific assistant at the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in the group of Prof. Ferenc Krausz where she worked with ultrafast laser systems.