To better understand the mechanisms behind cell damage by laser light the research group of our former colleague Hanieh Fattahi and the research group of Daniel Wehner’s at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) and the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM) joined forces. Their research delivered significant advances in identifying conditions that allow the use of intense pulsed lasers in living organisms without causing damage.
They showed that damage to the central nervous system of zebrafish is confined and well controlled when irradiated by femtosecond pulses at 1030 nm at low repetition rates. This allows for a non-invasive increase in imaging dwell time and photon flux, as long as the peak intensity is below the low plasma density threshold.
Their findings are crucial for label-free non-linear microscopy and contribute to advances in deep-tissue imaging and innovative microscopy techniques. The discoveries are published in Communications Physics.
Original Publication:
Nonlinear dynamics of femtosecond laser interaction with the central nervous system in zebrafish
S. Jun, A.Herbst; K. Scheffter, N. John, Julia Kolb, D. Wehner; H. Fattahi,
Communications Physics 7, 161 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-024-01653-2
