Researchers have used white light sources to illuminate, interrogate, and excite biological materials and chemicals for several hundred years. Traditionally, they used filament or gas discharge lamps, but today they use LEDs and other white light sources. However, most light sources have inadequate output power and/or bandwidth for many applications.
Lasers provide excellent beam quality and power at a specific wavelength. To address more wavelengths, you must combine several lasers – adding cost and complexity. And even then, only certain discrete wavelengths are available.
The supercontinuum white-light laser combines the broadband nature of the lamp with the power and robustness of a laser. It has been used in bio-photonics since its introduction to the market by NKT Photonics in 2003.
A supercontinuum laser provides a continuous output in the entire 390-2400nm range. By filtering, you can address any part of the spectrum individually. The diffraction-limited output is fiber-delivered with a typical spectral density of several mW/nm – many orders of magnitude brighter than lamp-based sources. The total power can reach several Watts.
Supercontinuum lasers are monolithic fiber lasers and require no alignment or service. Our SuperK lasers have lifetimes exceeding thousands of hours.
Hyperspectral imaging is the simultaneous collection of quantitative spatial and spectral information. It is becoming an essential technique in many applications from food and recycling sorting to medical imaging and semiconductor metrology. Read more
Ultra-high resolution Optical Coherence Tomography (UHR-OCT) is an invaluable tool that enables micron-scale cross-sectional or 3D imaging of a subject. It is relevant for various applications, from analysis of tissue in medical applications to visualization of sub-micron structures in manufacturing. Read more
Fluorescence Microscopy allows highly specific imaging of cellular compartments in a minimally invasive fashion while obtaining the highest contrast. However, conventional microscopes are limited in their resolution due to the diffraction barrier. In the past decades, several different approaches have shown the ability to circumvent the diffraction limit by either switching on and off single fluorophores, utilizing structured illumination, optical fluctuation or alternatively depleting excited chromophores from the excitation volume.
This document provides a quick overview of the STED technique introduced by Stefan W. Hell in 1994. NKT Photonics’ SuperK and Onefive KATANA HP lasers are a perfect combination to realize flexible pulsed excitation as well as synchronized depletion within the visible and near-infrared range. Read more
Ophthalmic imaging is the branch of ophthalmology that deals with imaging of the eye diagnosing the anatomy, physiology, and diseases of the eye. Read more
