Supercontinuum source, method for generating and emitting a supercontinuum, multiphoton excitation fluorescence microscope, and multiphoton excitation method

A method for generating and emitting a supercontinuum, comprising:

• oscillating an ultrashort light pulse by a pulse oscillator,
• making the ultrashort light pulse from the pulse oscillator enter into a waveguide, and
• converting the ultrashort light pulse into a supercontinuum by a nonlinear optical effect in the waveguide, and then emitting therefrom,
• wherein
• the waveguide converts the ultrashort light pulse into the supercontinuum having a spectrum continuous in a band width of at least 200 nm included in the wavelength range from 850 to 1550 nm and having a wavelength flatness within 3 dB in the wavelength band width of at least 200 nm included in the wavelength range from 850 to 1550 nm, and
• the ultrashort light pulse oscillated from the pulse oscillator has a pulse width not more than 1 ps and the center wavelength in the wavelength range from 1000 nm to 1100 nm, and
• further comprising emitting the supercontinuum with a peak power within 1 to 100 kW to enable multiphoton excitation of an object on an irradiated plane.