Practical guide for constructing a pulse compressor used in multi-photon microscopy

Multi-photon imaging has generated intense interest from investigators using fluorescent imaging assays in live cells. It can be argued that this technique is rapidly overtaking confocal microscopy as the method of choice for three-dimensional fluorescent imaging of in vivo preparations. Because of the cost involved in purchasing a commercial multi-photon imaging microscope, many investigators have elected to build their own system by adapting in-house confocal laser scanning microscopes. One of the components used for this adaptation involves the construction of an external pulse compressor. Pulse compressors are used to add negative dispersion to pulsed radiation, which undergoes group velocity dispersion when traversing optical elements. In this chapter, we describe a practical guide to building an external pulse compressor.