In vivo three- and four-photon fluorescence microscopy using a 1.8 µm femtosecond fiber laser system.

Multiphoton microscopy has enabled us to image cellular dynamics in vivo. However, the excitation wavelength for imaging with commercially available lasers is mostly limited between 0.65-1.04 µm. Here we develop a femtosecond fiber laser system that produces ∼150 fs pulses at 1.8 µm. Our system starts from an erbium-doped silica fiber laser, and its wavelength is converted to 1.8 µm using a Raman shift fiber. The 1.8 µm pulses are amplified with a two-stage Tm:ZBLAN fiber amplifier. The final pulse energy is ∼1 µJ, sufficient for in vivo imaging. We successfully observe TurboFP635-expressing cortical neurons at a depth of 0.7 mm from the brain surface by three-photon excitation and Clover-expressing astrocytes at a depth of 0.15 mm by four-photon excitation.

UV-induced Bragg grating inscription into single-polarization all-solid hybrid microstructured optical fiber.

We demonstrate a single-polarization all-solid hybrid microstructured optical fiber with a UV-induced Bragg grating. A strong (∼20 dB) UV-induced Bragg grating was inscribed within the 30 nm-wide single-polarization window of the fiber, producing polarized Bragg reflection. The sharp band-edge cutoff allows a large polarization-extinction ratio of the Bragg reflection. The hybrid structure of the fiber enabled minimal UV exposure to the high-index regions and the location of the single-polarization window was maintained after the grating was inscribed.

Linearly polarized fiber laser using a point-by-point Bragg grating in a single-polarization photonic bandgap fiber.

We present a narrow-linewidth, linearly polarized neodymium-doped fiber laser that incorporates a point-by-point Bragg grating inscribed into the core of a single-polarization all-solid photonic bandgap fiber. The Bragg grating was written within a single-polarization wavelength band of the fiber; thus, the Bragg reflection was polarized. This all-fiber laser produced 7.2 W, linearly polarized output with 25 pm FWHM and 19.6 dB polarization extinction ratio.

Single-polarization operation in birefringent all-solid hybrid microstructured fiber with additional stress applying parts.

We demonstrate single-polarization (SP) operation in a birefringent all-solid hybrid microstructured fiber that has additional boron-doped stress-applying parts (SAPs). The stress from the SAPs is added to the stress from the highly germanium-doped high-index regions, and SP operation with more than a 25 nm bandwidth was achieved at the shorter wavelength edge of the second bandgap.

Birefringent all-solid hybrid microstructured fiber.

We report the characterization of a birefringent all-solid hybrid microstructured fiber, in which the core-modes are guided by both the photonic bandgap (PBG) effect and total internal reflection (TIR). Due to the twofold symmetry, modal birefringence of 1.5 x 10(-4) and group birefringence of 2.1 x 10(-4) were measured at 1.31 microm, which is in the middle of the second bandgap. The band structure was calculated to be different from conventional 2-D PBG fibers due to the 1-D arrangement of high-index regions. The bend loss has a strong directional dependence due to the coexistence of the two guiding mechanisms. The fiber has two important properties pertinent to PBG fibers; spectral filtering, and chromatic dispersion specific to PBG fibers. The number of high-index regions, which trap pump power (by index guiding) when the fiber is used in cladding-pumped fiber lasers, is greatly reduced so that this fiber should enable efficient cladding pumping. This structure is suitable for linearly-polarized, cladding-pumped fiber lasers utilizing the properties of PBG fibers.

Morphological survey of bovine Setaria in the abdominal cavities of cattle in Aomori and Kumamoto Prefectures, Japan.

An epidemiological survey of bovine Setaria collected from the abdominal cavities was performed morphologically on the cattle in Aomori and Kumamoto Prefectures, Japan, between August 2005 and July 2006. Fifty Setaria worms were collected from the cattle in Aomori Prefecture and 847 from those in Kumamoto Prefecture. Of these worms, 35 were identified as Setaria digitata, 14 as S. marshalli, and one as S. labiatopapillosa in Aomori Prefecture, while 816 were identified as S. digitata and 31 as S. marshalli in Kumamoto Prefecture.