Ultrafast X-ray science and biomedical imaging at INRS-ÉMT

Professeur François Légaré
INRS-ÉMT

Abstract

Research activities at INRS-ÉMT in the fields of ultrafast X-ray science and biomedical imaging will be presented. More specifically, recent results obtained at the Advanced Laser Light Source on the development of a novel scheme for broadband parametric amplification of few-cycle infrared pulses will be discussed, as well as the application of infrared sources to high harmonic generation from atoms and molecules. High harmonic spectra covering the entire water window spectral range have been obtained opening the possibility to probe ultrafast dynamics in solution. Furthermore, we are currently working to push the process of high harmonic generation at higher photon energy to access the L-edges of 3d transition metals to perform ultrafast demagnetization experiments.

In addition to these efforts in ultrafast X-ray science, my group is working on using nonlinear optical microscopy techniques for biomedical imaging. Recently, we have used Second Harmonic Generation Microscopy with interferometry for imaging tissues rich in noncentrosymmetric proteins, such as tendon and skeletal muscle. By measuring the phase of the SHG, this new approach provides additional information about the relative orientation between the structures observed with standard SHG microscopy.