Blue-Green Fiber Laser for Biomedical Applications

描述（由申请人提供）：使用在可见光谱的蓝-绿部分中具有2个不同照明波长的激发源同时检测参考和样品中标记染料的荧光是广泛实践的分析工具。这种方法已被用于最有能力的自动DNA测序仪和许多其他生物医学仪器。为了实现这一点，当前的机器使用具有蓝色和绿色线的2个气体激光器，或者来自氩离子激光器的2个线。这些激光光源体积庞大、功率效率低且昂贵。非常需要紧凑且提供高输出功率的低成本蓝绿激光器。这种设备将对健康科学相关的仪器设计产生巨大的积极影响。实现该目标的一个（1）解决方案是开发基于双波长（蓝-绿）光纤激光腔的激光源。这样的源具有许多优于固体晶体和气体基器件的优点，并且被认为是开发用于生物医学应用的微型廉价激光器的理想选择。掺镱光纤特别突出，因为它有两个吸收带。这一特性显示了发展双线激光器的前景。在这个项目中，我们的总体目标是开发一个双包层单模掺镱光纤激光器在两个可见线发射：蓝色（489 nm），和绿色（519 nm）。这将通过在？= 978 nm，？= 1038 nm。在第一阶段，我们证明了从掺镱光纤中产生蓝色和绿色谱线的可行性。在第二阶段，我们将制造和测试用于生物医学应用的蓝绿激光器的工作原型。从长远来看，这种双波长激光光源的商业可用性将使自动DNA测序仪的创建比目前的模型更小，更便宜，操作成本更低，并将提供更高的测序速度和准确性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The simultaneous detection of the fluorescence of marker dyes in a reference and in the sample using an excitation source with 2 distinct illumination wavelengths in the blue-green portion of the visible spectrum is a widely practiced analytical tool. This approach has been used in the most capable automated DNA sequencers, and a number of other biomedical instruments. To achieve this, current machines use either 2 gas lasers with blue and green lines, or 2 lines from an argon ion laser. These laser light sources are bulky, power inefficient, and expensive. A low cost blue-green laser that is compact and provides high output power is highly desirable. Such a device will have a tremendous positive impact on health science related instrument designs. One (1) solution to achieve this aim is the development of a dual wavelength (blue-green) optical fiber lasing cavity based laser source. Such a source has a number of advantages over solid crystal and gas based devices and is considered ideal for developing miniature inexpensive lasers for biomedical applications. Yb-doped optical fiber stands out, in particular, because of its 2 absorption bands. This characteristic shows promise for the development of a dual-line laser. In this project, our overall aim is to develop a double clad single mode Yb-doped fiber based laser emitting at 2 visible lines: blue (489 nm), and green (519 nm). This will be achieved by frequency doubling the primary emission lines of Ytterbium (Yb) at ?=978 nm and ?=1038 nm. In Phase I, we demonstrated the feasibility of generating blue and green lines from Ytterbium-doped fiber. In Phase II, we will fabricate and test a working prototype of the blue-green laser for biomedical applications. In the long term, the commercial availability of this dual wavelength laser light source will enable the creation of automatic DNA sequencers that are much smaller and less expensive than present models, are less costly to operate, and will provide higher sequencing speed and accuracy.