Patent ID: 6879394

Claim:
An installation for multi-dimensional laser scanning of a material comprising intrinsic chromophores responsive to excitation by photons of at least one chosen energy to produce response photons, said installation comprising: at least one source ( 115 ) for producing time stamp pulses of synchronized photons, means ( 12 - 14 ) for locally focusing said pulses on a material to cause said intrinsic chromophores of said material to absorb groups of at least two synchronized photons to produce response photons, means ( 22 , 40 , 53 ) for directing said response photons to at least one collecting zone, means ( 30 - 34 ) for collecting said response photons in said at least one collecting zone, whatever their energy, processing means for converting said collected photons into data at least representative of their number, and storing said data in correspondence with at least the time stamp pulses that cause said material to produce said response photons, means ( 11 ) for scanning said pulses through a chosen area of said material, means for delivering from said data stored an image representative of said chosen area of said material, with a sub-millimeter resolution, and as a function of their respective time stamp pulses.