High power and energy tunable lasers for 2-photon imaging

2-Photon imaging has dramatically expanded its reach in neuroscience-related applications thanks to the development of genetically encoded functional probes that report cellular activity and activates/silence individual neurons (optogenetics). The combination of 3D spatial resolution afforded by 2-photon imaging and the proliferation of advanced scanning and scanless methodologies enable powerful parallel functional imaging of thousands of individually selected neurons. Faster and parallel imaging of large cell populations requires femtosecond lasers with higher average power and energy, but also improved pulse-to-pulse stability all along the required tuning ranges. Light Conversion has pioneered the development of femtosecond wavelength-tunable devices as well as of high-energy and -power Ytterbium lasers ad amplifiers. In this presentation we highlight how these developments are powering advanced imaging techniques using reporting and optogenetic probes.