Optical imaging and microscopy

the long version

This text on contemporary optical systems is intended for optical researchers and engineers, graduate students and optical microscopists in the biological and biomedical sciences. It consists of three parts: The first discusses high-aperture optical systems, which form the backbone of optical microscopes. Here particular attention is paid to optical data storage. The second part is on the use of non-linear optical techniques, including non-linear optical excitation (second and third harmonic generation and two-photon microscopy) and non-linear spectroscopy (CARS). The final part of the book presents miscellaneous techniques that are either novel or well known but finding new applications. An example of the latter is adaptive optics, which is a well-established method, for example, in astronomy. However, its application in eye imaging in combination with high power pulsed lasers, opens a novel approach to eye surgery.