In this thesis, we discuss the photo-damage issues in biological specimens for the Ti: sapphire laser and the Cr: forsterite laser. With plasma luminescence serving as the experimental criterion for breakdown, it was observed that the problem of photo-damage was greatly released by choosing Cr: forsterite laser as the light source. With the light source at 1230 nm, a harmonic generation microscope with deep penetration depth and low photo-damage was built in the laboratory. One of the applications of harmonic generation microscopy is the study of animal specimens. Several kinds of mouse tissues were investigated as a model system for human tissues. Due to the high penetration depth and low photo-damage properties of the system, it is promising that the detection of cancer in early stage might be done in the level of cells. Another application of the harmonic generation microscope is the detection of static electric field. With the electric-field-induce-second-harmonic-generation (EFISHG) signal coming from the nematic liquid crystals, three-dimensional electric field visualization can be achieved with employing the microscope. Not only the electric field intensity, but also the electric field vector can be obtained.