These curves show the two-photon absorption cross-sections of commonly used dyes. The units are in Goeppert-Mayers (GM), named after Maria Goeppert-Mayer, the discoverer of the 2-photon effect. You can toggle individual curves by clicking on their entries in the legend.

Data come from the Zipfel Lab and from papers by Mikhail Drobizhev. Mikhail kindly provided CSV files. In general the data from Zipfel yield larger GM values than those from Drobizhev. Likely this is due to preparation differences. Care must be taken in comparing across datasets and so the origin of each cruve is indicated by an initial. For example "eGFP (Z)" comes from the Zipfel lab and "eGFP (D)" is from Drobizhev.

The code underlying this page can be found here. The curves are stored in named sub-directories so their origin is clear.

Using the data

Note that the tunable Ti Saph lasers commonly used for multi-photon microscopy produce most of their power around 800 nm. Typically power output at 1050 nm drops to about 15% of that at 800 nm.

Emission spectra

• eBFP2, eGFP, tdTomato. With emission filters
• eBFP2, eGFP, tdTomato, mCherry. With emission filters

References

• Drobizhev, 2011