High-sensitivity coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscopy with two tightly synchronized picosecond lasers.
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.
Potma
Eric O
EO
Jones
David J
DJ
Cheng
J-X
JX
Xie
X S
XS
Ye
Jun
J