title: Ionization penalty in nonlinear optical bioimaging.
abstract: The noninvasiveness of nonlinear optical imaging techniques is quantified in terms of the number of free electron generated in the laser-tissue interaction region per photon emitted into the nonlinear optical signal. For a broad variety of biomarker dyes and bioactivity reporter proteins, this ratio is shown to approach a critical value of unity for field intensities above 1 TW/cm2. Closed-form analytical expressions for the ionization penalty function and the critical pulse repetition rate are derived for few-cycle laser pulses.
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, International Laser Center, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorob'evy gory, Moscow 119992, Russia.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Voronin
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Zheltikov
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001703:Biophysics / Q000379:methods*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions; D007834:Lasers; D015233:Models, Statistical; D016011:Normal Distribution; D055095:Optics and Photonics; D010778:Photochemotherapy / Q000379:methods; D017785:Photons; D012666:Semiconductors; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007477:Ions