Homologous dual-emission upconversion adaptive optics microscopy

Organic fluorescent dyes and proteins are commonly employed as imaging probes in nonlinear laser scanning microscopy. However, these probes encounter a limitation that can only be excited with the use of high-intensity ultrafast femtosecond pulsed laser due to small absorption cross-section. Here, we propose a high-resolution imaging method in deep tissues using an adaptive optics (AO) technique that exploits the NIR emission of upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs). We have successfully achieved near-diffraction-limited performance across a diverse array of samples, both biological and nonbiological, that present with varying types of aberrations.