The large use of nonlinear laser scanning microscopy in the past decade paved the way forpot ential clinical application of this imaging technique.Modern nonlinear microscopy techniquesoffer promising label-free solut...The large use of nonlinear laser scanning microscopy in the past decade paved the way forpot ential clinical application of this imaging technique.Modern nonlinear microscopy techniquesoffer promising label-free solutions to improve diagnostic performances on tissues.In particular,the combination of multiple nonlinear imaging techniques in the same microscope allows inte-grating_morphological with functional information in a morpho-functional scheme.Suchapproach provides a high-resolution label-free alternative to both histological and immunohis-tochemicai examination of tissues and is becoming increasingly popular among the clinicalcommumity.Nevertheless,several technical improvements,including automatic scanning andimage analysis,are required before the technique represents a standard diagnostic method.In thisreview paper,we highlight the capabilit ies of multimodal nonlinear microscopy for tissue inaging,by providing various examples on colon,arterial and skin tissues.The comparison between images acquired using multimodal nonlinear microscopy and histology shows a good agreement bet ween the two methods.The results demonstrate that multimodal nonlinear microscopy is apowerful label-free alternative to standard histopathological methods and has the potential tofind a stable place in the clinical setting in the near future.展开更多
Understanding brain structure and function,and the complex relationships bet ween them,is one of the grand challenges of contemporary sciences.Thanks to their fexiblity,optical techniques could be the key to explore t...Understanding brain structure and function,and the complex relationships bet ween them,is one of the grand challenges of contemporary sciences.Thanks to their fexiblity,optical techniques could be the key to explore this complex network.In this manuscript,we briefly review recent adv ancements in optical methods applied to three main issues:anatomy,plasticity and func-tionality.We describe novel implement ations of light-sheet microscopy to resolve neuronal anat-omy in whole fixed brains with cellular resolution.Moving to liv ing samples,we show how real-time dynamics of brain rewiring can be visualized through two-photon microscopy with the spatial resolution of single synaptic contacts.The plasticity of the injured brain can also be dissected through cut ting edge optical methods that specifically ablate single neuronal processes.Finally,we report how nonlinear microscopy in combination with novel voltage sensitive dyes allow optical registrations of action potential across a population of neurons opening promising prospective in understanding brain functionality.The knowledge acquired from these complementary optical methods may provide a deeper comprehension of the brain and of its unique features.展开更多
The efficient interaction of light with quantum emitters is crucial to most applications in nano and quantum photonics,such as sensing or quantum information processing.Effective excitation and photon extraction are p...The efficient interaction of light with quantum emitters is crucial to most applications in nano and quantum photonics,such as sensing or quantum information processing.Effective excitation and photon extraction are particularly important for the weak signals emitted by a single atom or molecule.Recent works have introduced novel collection strategies,which demonstrate that large efficiencies can be achieved by either planar dielectric antennas combined with high numerical aperture objectives or optical nanostructures that beam emission into a narrow angular distribution.However,the first approach requires the use of elaborate collection optics,while the latter is based on accurate positioning of the quantum emitter near complex nanoscale architectures;hence,sophisticated fabrication and experimental capabilities are needed.Here we present a theoretical and experimental demonstration of a planar optical antenna that beams light emitted by a single molecule,which results in increased collection efficiency at small angles without stringent requirements on the emitter position.The proposed device exhibits broadband performance and is spectrally scalable,and it is simple to fabricate and therefore applies to a wide range of quantum emitters.Our design finds immediate application in spectroscopy,quantum optics and sensing.展开更多
基金research leading to these results has receivedfunding:from the European Union Seventh Fra-mework Programme(FP7/2007-2013)under grantagreements 228334 and 28464from the Italian Ministry for Education,University and Research inthe framework of the Flagship Project NANOMAXfrom the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze(private foundation).
文摘The large use of nonlinear laser scanning microscopy in the past decade paved the way forpot ential clinical application of this imaging technique.Modern nonlinear microscopy techniquesoffer promising label-free solutions to improve diagnostic performances on tissues.In particular,the combination of multiple nonlinear imaging techniques in the same microscope allows inte-grating_morphological with functional information in a morpho-functional scheme.Suchapproach provides a high-resolution label-free alternative to both histological and immunohis-tochemicai examination of tissues and is becoming increasingly popular among the clinicalcommumity.Nevertheless,several technical improvements,including automatic scanning andimage analysis,are required before the technique represents a standard diagnostic method.In thisreview paper,we highlight the capabilit ies of multimodal nonlinear microscopy for tissue inaging,by providing various examples on colon,arterial and skin tissues.The comparison between images acquired using multimodal nonlinear microscopy and histology shows a good agreement bet ween the two methods.The results demonstrate that multimodal nonlinear microscopy is apowerful label-free alternative to standard histopathological methods and has the potential tofind a stable place in the clinical setting in the near future.
基金The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Frame-work Programme(FP7/2007-2013)under Grant agreements Nos.228334 and 241526This research project has also been supported by Human Frontier Science Program research grant(RGP0027/2009)the ItalianMinistry for Education,University and Research in the framework of the Flagship Pro-ject Nanomax and by Italian Ministry of Health in the framework of the"Stem cells call for proposals".This research has been carried out in the framework of the research activities of ICON foundation sup-ported by"Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze".
文摘Understanding brain structure and function,and the complex relationships bet ween them,is one of the grand challenges of contemporary sciences.Thanks to their fexiblity,optical techniques could be the key to explore this complex network.In this manuscript,we briefly review recent adv ancements in optical methods applied to three main issues:anatomy,plasticity and func-tionality.We describe novel implement ations of light-sheet microscopy to resolve neuronal anat-omy in whole fixed brains with cellular resolution.Moving to liv ing samples,we show how real-time dynamics of brain rewiring can be visualized through two-photon microscopy with the spatial resolution of single synaptic contacts.The plasticity of the injured brain can also be dissected through cut ting edge optical methods that specifically ablate single neuronal processes.Finally,we report how nonlinear microscopy in combination with novel voltage sensitive dyes allow optical registrations of action potential across a population of neurons opening promising prospective in understanding brain functionality.The knowledge acquired from these complementary optical methods may provide a deeper comprehension of the brain and of its unique features.
基金supported by COST(European Cooperation in Science and Technology).
文摘The efficient interaction of light with quantum emitters is crucial to most applications in nano and quantum photonics,such as sensing or quantum information processing.Effective excitation and photon extraction are particularly important for the weak signals emitted by a single atom or molecule.Recent works have introduced novel collection strategies,which demonstrate that large efficiencies can be achieved by either planar dielectric antennas combined with high numerical aperture objectives or optical nanostructures that beam emission into a narrow angular distribution.However,the first approach requires the use of elaborate collection optics,while the latter is based on accurate positioning of the quantum emitter near complex nanoscale architectures;hence,sophisticated fabrication and experimental capabilities are needed.Here we present a theoretical and experimental demonstration of a planar optical antenna that beams light emitted by a single molecule,which results in increased collection efficiency at small angles without stringent requirements on the emitter position.The proposed device exhibits broadband performance and is spectrally scalable,and it is simple to fabricate and therefore applies to a wide range of quantum emitters.Our design finds immediate application in spectroscopy,quantum optics and sensing.
