Direct hyperspectral dual-comb imaging

Abstract

Even though dual-comb-based systems are employed almost routinely nowadays in an ever-increasing number of applica-tions, an efficient combination of this effective technique withan imaging arrangement, which would undoubtedly revolu-tionize hyperspectral imaging, had not yet been demonstrated. Here we present, to our knowledge, the first hyperspectral dual-comb imaging system in which interferograms are directly detected by a video camera. The system, based on a dual-comb scheme capable of consistently generating interfer-ograms at a rate of 1 Hz and below, combines fast hyperspectral imaging with unprecedented optical resolution and fully multiplex operation. Various proof-of-principle experiments demonstrating hyperspectral imaging of molecular resonances have proved that the direct hyperspectral dual-comb imaging method presented here is capable of characterizing a scene with super-fine resolution in a narrow optical span within 1 s.