title: Deep in vivo two-photon microscopy with a low cost custom built mode-locked 1060 nm fiber laser.
abstract: Here we demonstrate that a mode-locked ytterbium fiber laser for two-photon fluorescence microscopy can be built for $13,000. The laser emits at a wavelength of 1060 nm with a usable average power of 1 W at a repetition rate of 40 MHz and a compressed pulse width of 81 fs at the sample. The laser is used to obtain deep in vivo two-color images of layer-V pyramidal neurons expressing YFP and vasculature labelled with Texas Red at depths up to 900 µm. The sub-1 µm features of dendritic spines can be resolved at a 200 µm depth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton C0800, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Evan P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Perillo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton C0800, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Justin E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: McCracken
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton C0800, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Fernée
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton C0800, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Goldak
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton C0800, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Flor A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton C0800, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton C0800, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Hsin-Chih
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton C0800, Austin, Texas 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Dunn
keywords: (140.4050) Mode-locked lasers; (170.3880) Medical and biological imaging; (190.4180) Multiphoton processes