A high-peak-power UV picosecond-pulse light source based on a gain-switched 1.55 microm laser diode and its application to time-resolved spectroscopy of blue-violet materials.

We generated sub-kilowatt peak-power and 6-ps duration 390-nm optical pulses via the fourth harmonic generation of amplified optical output from a gain-switched 1.55-microm laser diode. We obtained a power-conversion-efficiency of 12% from 1.

Two-photon bioimaging utilizing supercontinuum light generated by a high-peak-power picosecond semiconductor laser source.

We developed a novel scheme for two-photon fluorescence bioimaging. We generated supercontinuum (SC) light at wavelengths of 600 to 1200 nm with 774-nm light pulses from a compact turn-key semiconductor laser picosecond light pulse source that we developed. The supercontinuum light was sliced at around 1030- and 920-nm wavelengths and was amplified to kW-peak-power level using laboratory-made low-nonlinear-effects optical fiber amplifiers.

Two-photon bioimaging with picosecond optical pulses from a semiconductor laser.

Toward a practical light source for two-photon bioimaging, we have generated kilowatt peak power of 0.77 mum wavelength and 5 ps optical pulse via second-harmonic generation of the amplified output from a gain-switched 1.55 mum semiconductor laser.