Fiber-based combined optical coherence and multiphoton endomicroscopy

A fiber-based multimodal imaging system that combines multiphoton microscopy (MPM) with Fourier domain optical coherence microscopy (OCM) is reported. The system uses a fiber-based femtosecond laser, a fiber coupler, and a double-clad fiber (DCF) device. The fiber laser has a central wavelength of 1.04 mu m and bandwidth of 29 nm. Longer excitation wavelength is used to increase penetration depth and increase the excitation efficiency for dyes, such as red fluorescent dyes. A single mode fiber coupler is used to replace the free-space beam splitter and one arm of the coupler is fused with a double-clad fiber device. The MPM and OCM share the same excitation light path in the core of a double-clad fiber, while the OCM and MPM signals were collected by the core and clad of the double-clad fiber, respectively. The performance of the introduced double-clad device is analyzed. The device can confine all the excitation light in the core and has a collection efficiency of 20% for the MPM signal. The efficiency can be further increased by fusing more multimode fibers with the DCF. Simultaneous optical coherence microscopic imaging, second harmonic generation imaging, and two-photon excitation fluorescence imaging are demonstrated in biological samples. (C) 2011 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). [DOI: 10.1117/1.3555180]