title: High-sensitivity coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy with two tightly synchronized picosecond lasers.
abstract: We demonstrate a significant improvement in signal-to-noise ratio in coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy/microscopy, using two highly synchronized picosecond Ti:sapphire lasers. A temporal jitter between the pulse trains from the two independent commercial lasers is reduced from a few picoseconds to ~21 fs , maintained over several hours. The tight synchronization brings the fluctuation of the CARS signal down to the shot-noise limit, leading to enhanced CARS vibrational images of living cells and polymer beads.
authors.forename: Eric O
authors.initials: EO
authors.lastname: Potma
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: J-X
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: X S
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye