Broadband stimulated Raman scattering with Fourier-transform detection

We propose a new approach to broadband Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) spectroscopy and microscopy based on time-domain Fourier transform (FT) detection of the stimulated Raman gain (SRG) spectrum. We generate two phase-locked replicas of the Stokes pulse after the sample using a passive birefringent interferometer and measure by the FT technique both the Stokes and the SRG spectra. Our approach blends the very high sensitivity of single-channel lock-in balanced detection with the spectral coverage and resolution afforded by FT spectroscopy. We demonstrate our method by measuring the SRG spectra of different compounds and performing broadband SRS imaging on inorganic blends. (C) 2015 Optical Society of America