title: Nonlinear bio-photonic crystal effects revealed with multimodal nonlinear microscopy.
abstract: Highly optically active nonlinear bio-photonic crystalline and semicrystalline structures in living cells were studied by a novel multimodal nonlinear microscopy. Numerous biological structures, including stacked membranes and aligned protein structures are highly organized on a nanoscale and have been found to exhibit strong optical activities through second-harmonic generation (SHG) interactions, behaving similarly to man-made nonlinear photonic crystals. The microscopic technology used in this study is based on a combination of different imaging modes including SHG, third-harmonic generation, and multiphoton-induced fluorescence. With no energy release during harmonic generation processes, the nonlinear-photonic-crystal-like SHG activity is useful for investigating the dynamics of structure-function relationships at subcellular levels and is ideal for studying living cells, as minimal or no preparation is required.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering & Graduate Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: S-W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: I-H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: T-M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: C-K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: S-P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: B-L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: P-C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: M-X
authors.initials: MX
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: D-J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: H-L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D002477:Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003460:Crystallization; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000648:ultrastructure; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D017785:Photons; D059828:Plant Cells; D012867:Skin; D013552:Swine