Portable all-fiber dual-output widely tunable light source for coherent Raman imaging.

We present a rapidly tunable dual-output all-fiber light source for coherent Raman imaging, based on a dispersively matched mode-locked laser pumping a parametric oscillator. Output pump and Stokes pulses with a maximal power of 170 and 400 mW, respectively, and equal durations of 7 ps could be generated. The tuning mechanism required no mechanical delay line, enabling all-electronic arbitrary wavelength switching across more than 2700  cm - 1 in less than 5 ms. The compact setup showed a reliable operation despite mechanical shocks of more than 25  m / s 2 and is, thus, well suited for operation in a mobile cart. Imaging mouse and human skin tissue with both the portable light source and a commercial laboratory-bound reference system yielded qualitatively equal results and verified the portable light source being well suited for coherent Raman microscopy.
Competing Interests: M. Brinkmann and T. Hellwig are pursuing the commercialization of the presented light source by means of the company Refined Laser Systems UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Münster, Germany (I,P,S).
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