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Nonlinear bio-photonic crystal effects revealed with multimodal nonlinear microscopy
1Department of Electrical Engineering & Graduate Institute of Electro-Optical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Journal of Microscopy
|December 4, 2002
Summary
Living cells contain nanoscale structures exhibiting optical properties similar to nonlinear photonic crystals. This novel microscopy reveals subcellular dynamics and structure-function relationships in unstained, living cells.
Area of Science:
- Biophysics
- Cell Biology
- Optical Physics
Background:
- Living cells possess highly organized nanoscale structures.
- Some biological structures exhibit nonlinear optical properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate optically active nonlinear bio-photonic structures in living cells.
- To utilize a novel multimodal nonlinear microscopy technique.
Main Methods:
- Multimodal nonlinear microscopy combining second-harmonic generation (SHG), third-harmonic generation, and multiphoton-induced fluorescence.
- Analysis of nanoscale organization and optical activity in biological structures.
Main Results:
- Identified highly optically active nonlinear crystalline and semicrystalline structures in living cells.
- Observed that stacked membranes and aligned proteins exhibit strong optical activities via SHG.
- Demonstrated that these biological structures mimic man-made nonlinear photonic crystals.
Conclusions:
- The nonlinear-photonic-crystal-like SHG activity in cells is valuable for studying subcellular dynamics.
- This technique is ideal for investigating structure-function relationships in living cells with minimal preparation.