Nonlinear bio-photonic crystal effects revealed with multimodal nonlinear microscopy.
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.
Chu
S-W
SW
Department of Electrical Engineering & Graduate Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Chen
I-H
IH
Liu
T-M
TM
Sun
C-K
CK
Lee
S-P
SP
Lin
B-L
BL
Cheng
P-C
PC
Kuo
M-X
MX
Lin
D-J
DJ
Liu
H-L
HL
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