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"The Nobel Laureate Sydney Brenner once said: "Progress of science depends on new techniques, new discoveries and new ideas, probably in that order." In the past decade, I have been working on the development of novel optical microscopy, toward the discovery in neuroscience and nanoscience. On neuroscience, together with partners in the brain technology project, we focus on enhancing contrast, resolution, speed, and depth, aiming to unravel structural and functional connectomes. I will introduce example outcomes from this project, including

1. High-speed imaging: two-photon endoscopy in SCN (Nat. Comm 2025), volumetric 4D imaging in cerebellum with AI-enhanced contrast (Adv. Science 2024)

2. Large FoV and super-resolution: expansion of paraffin-fixed tissues (eLife 2024), lightsheet plus expansion (Nat. Comm. 2024), photoacoustic microscopy

3. Novel contrast: interferometric scattering, stimulated Raman scattering, SNR enhancement via high-speed electronics.

On nanoscience, we apply confocal laser scanning microscopy, which is a routine tool in biology but not with nanomaterials, to inspect single metallic and semiconductor nanostructures. We discovered 1000 to 100000 fold enhanced photothermal nonlinear responses, leading to the realization of all-optical switch and super-resolution capability, as well as novel light-matter interactions such as optical bistability and displacement resonance."