Self-phase modulation signatures of neuronal activity

We use phase-sensitive detection of spectral hole refilling to demonstrate strong novel intrinsic nonlinear signatures of neuronal activation in hippocampal brain slices. The ability to gain access to this fundamentally new intrinsic contrast with modest power levels suggests a new approach to in vivo neural imaging. We expect that we can extrapolate our method to high spatial and temporal resolution in deep tissue while retaining the noninvasive character. (C) 2008 Optical Society of America.