A compact and inexpensive multiphoton-excitation laser scanning microscope
for observing fluorescence by multiphoton excitation having a plurality
of wavelengths by irradiating a specimen with ultrashort pulsed laser
light having a plurality of wavelengths is provided. A
multiphoton-excitation laser scanning microscope includes a laser light
source that emits ultrashort pulsed laser light with a single wavelength,
an optical fiber into which the ultrashort pulsed laser light from the
laser light source is introduced and which broadens the spectrum of the
ultrashort pulsed laser light, a laser scanning unit that scans the
spectrally broadened ultrashort pulsed laser light emitted from the
optical fiber, an objective optical system that focuses the scanned
ultrashort pulsed laser light onto a specimen, optical detectors that
detect fluorescence by multiphoton excitation emitted from the focal
position of the ultrashort pulsed laser light in the specimen, and a
dispersion-compensating optical system that compensates for the group
velocity dispersion of the entire microscope that influences the pulse
width of the ultrashort pulsed laser light.