Patent ID: 7329880
Filing Date: 2008-02-12
Classification: G01J,G01N,G02B

Abstract:
1. A multiphoton-excitation laser scanning microscope comprising: a laser light source that emits ultrashort pulsed laser light, wherein the ultrashort pulsed laser light has a pulse width of picosecond-order or shorter, and wherein the ultrashort pulsed laser light has a single wavelength; an optical fiber into which the ultrashort pulsed laser light is introduced, wherein the optical fiber broadens a spectrum of the ultrashort pulsed laser light; a laser scanning unit that scans the spectrally broadened ultrashort pulsed laser light emitted from the optical fiber; an objective optical system that focuses the spectrally broadened ultrashort pulsed laser light scanned by the laser scanning unit onto a focal position in a specimen; optical detectors that detect a fluorescence by multiphoton excitation emitted from the focal position in the specimen; a dispersion-compensating optical system that compensates for a group velocity dispersion of the multiphoton-excitation laser scanning microscope, wherein the group velocity dispersion influences the pulse width of the ultrashort pulsed laser light; a wavelength-selecting optical system that selects a wavelength of the spectrally broadened ultrashort pulsed laser light emitted from the optical fiber; a spectrum detecting unit that detects a center wavelength of the ultrashort pulsed laser light whose wavelength is selected by the wavelength-selecting optical system; and an adjusting unit that adjusts an amount of the group velocity dispersion compensation based on the center wavelength detected by the spectrum detecting unit.