Fiber lasers for CARS microscopy

We report a fiber-based high-power picosecond laser system for coherent Raman microscopy (CRM). This source generates 3-ps pulses with 6 W average power at 1030 nm. Frequency-doubling yields more than 2 W of green light, which can be used to pump a commercial optical parametric oscillator to produce the pump and Stokes beams for CRM. The design and performance of the laser are described, along with an application to CARS imaging.