Computationally image-corrected dual-comb microscopy with a free-running single-cavity dual-comb fiber laser

• Published in: Optics express Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 5018 - 5032
• Main Authors: Mizuno, Takahiko, Nakajima, Yoshiaki, Hata, Yuya, Tsuda, Takuya, Asahara, Akifumi, Kato, Takashi, Minamikawa, Takeo, Yasui, Takeshi, Minoshima, Kaoru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 15.02.2021
• ISSN: 1094-4087; 1094-4087
• DOI: 10.1364/OE.415242

Dual-comb microscopy (DCM), an interesting imaging modality based on the optical-frequency-comb (OFC) mode and image pixel one-to-one correspondence, benefits from scan-less full-field imaging and simultaneous confocal amplitude and phase imaging. However, the two fully frequency-stabilized OFC sources requirement hampers DCM practicality due to the complexity and costs. Here, a bidirectional single-cavity dual-comb fiber laser (SCDCFL) is adopted as a DCM low-complexity OFC source. Although the residual timing jitter in the SCDCFL blurs the image of a static object acquired by DCM, computational image correction significantly suppresses the image blur. Nanometer-order step surface profilometry with a 14.0 nm uncertainty highlights the computationally image-corrected DCM effectiveness. We further discuss a possibility to expand the computational image correction to a dynamic object and demonstrate its preliminary experiment. The proposed method enhances the DCM generality and practicality due to low-complexity OFC source.