Two-Photon Absorption: An Open Door to the NIR-II Biological Window?

Paige Shaw, Ewan Forsyth, Fizza Haseeb, Shufan Yang, Mark Bradley, Maxime Klausen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The way in which photons travel through biological tissues and subsequently become scattered or absorbed is a key limitation for traditional optical medical imaging techniques using visible light. In contrast, near-infrared wavelengths, in particular those above 1000 nm, penetrate deeper in tissues and undergo less scattering and cause less photo-damage, which describes the so-called “second biological transparency window”. Unfortunately, current dyes and imaging probes have severely limited absorption profiles at such long wavelengths, and molecular engineering of novel NIR-II dyes can be a tedious and unpredictable process, which limits access to this optical window and impedes further developments. Two-photon (2P) absorption not only provides convenient access to this window by doubling the absorption wavelength of dyes, but also increases the possible resolution. This review aims to provide an update on the available 2P instrumentation and 2P luminescent materials available for optical imaging in the NIR-II window.
Original languageEnglish
Article number921354
Pages (from-to)921354
JournalFrontiers in chemistry
Volume10
Early online date24 Jun 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 24 Jun 2022

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • fluorescent imaging
  • infrared dyes
  • near-infrared II
  • pulsed lasers
  • tissue penetration
  • two-photon absorption
  • two-photon microscopy

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