Neuronal rat cell imaging using a new UV-extended supercontinuum source

In this paper we report imaged neuronal rat cells in a confocal laser scanning microscope by simultaneous generation of the three requested wavelengths obtained by a UV-extended supercontinuum source. This is to the best of our knowledge that such a measure was performed using a microstructured fiber pumped by a standard Ti:Sapphire laser. We observed efficient UV light generation when a novel pumping scheme was used. The pump wavelength is close to the zero-dispersion wavelength of the fiber first high-order mode and offset axial pumping is used. By tuning the pump wavelength and power level we were able to generate mW-power levels in the visible wavelength interval down and of about hundreds of microwatt in the UV wavelength interval down to 300 nm. The pump alignment was very simple and very stable. We believe that further optimization of pump wavelength, fiber length and fiber zero-dispersion wavelength could generate light well below 300 nm using a simple and stable set-up. To demonstrate the potentiality of this technique we imaged neuronal rat cells in a confocal laser scanning microscope by simultaneous generation of the three requested wavelengths