Enhanced operation of femtosecond lasers and applications in cell transfection.

In this work we present a review and discussion on the enhancement of femtosecond (fs) laser for use within biophotonics with a particular focus on their use in optical transfection techniques. We describe the broad range of source options now available for the generation of femtosecond pulses before briefly reviewing the application of fs laser in optical transfection studies. We show that major performance enhancements may be obtained by optimising the spatial and temporal performance of the laser source before considering possible future directions in this fields. In relation to optical transfection we describe how such laser source initiate a multiphoton process to permeate the cell membrane in a transient fashion. We look at aspects of this technique including the ability to combine transfection of such transfection we explore the role of new sources and "nondiffracting" light fields. (C) 2008 by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim