SUPERCONTINUUM SOURCE, METHOD FOR GENERATING AND EMITTING A SUPERCONTINUUM, MULTIPHOTON EXCITATION FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPE, AND MULTIPHOTON EXCITATION METHOD

摘要

An ultrashort light pulse oscillated from an ultrashort pulse oscillator enters a waveguide 2 via a polarization control element 3. After conversion into a supercontinuum by a nonlinear optical effect, it is compressed by a prism pair compressor 71 as pulse compressor 7, and then emitted. The waveguide 2, which is a nonlinear fiber with normal dispersion in the wavelength range from 850 to 1550, generates the supercontinuum having a spectrum continuous in a wavelength band width of at least 200 nm included in the wavelength range from 850 to 1550 nm. The supercontinuum, which has a peak power within 1 to 100 kW, can be used as excitation light in a multiphoton excitation fluorescence microscope for fluorescence observation of biological samples.