This proposal describes a research program that will explore the frontiers of novel photonics and nanotechnology methods to develop a new class of miniaturized probes for biomedical imaging and microsurgery in-vivo. The objectives of this proposal are (1) to study the fundamentals of femtosecond laser microsurgery performed deep in tissue, (2) to explore the delivery of femtosecond laser pulses with pulse energies up to 1-uJ using a new class of airguiding photonic band-gap fibers, (3) to develop miniature scanners based on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, (4) to develop MEMS based spectral phase modulator in combination with a passive thin film coating technique to compensate for pulse broadening, and (5) to integrate these components into a macroscopic microsurgery system and evaluate their performance in-vitro.
