Nearly degenerate two-color impulsive coherent Raman hyperspectral imaging

Abstract

Impulsive stimulated Raman scattering (ISRS) is a robust technique for studying low frequency (<300 cm−1) Raman vibrational modes, but ISRS has faced difficulty in translation to an imaging modality. A primary challenge is the separation of the pump and probe pulses. Here we introduce and demonstrate a simple strategy for ISRS spectroscopy and hyperspectral imaging that uses complementary steep edge spectral filters to separate the probe beam detection from the pump and enables simple ISRS microscopy with a single-color ultrafast laser source. ISRS spectra are obtained that span from the fingerprint region down to <50 cm−1 vibrational modes. Hyperspectral imaging and polarization-dependent Raman spectra are also demonstrated.