Fiber-based electro-optic dual-comb light source for fast linear and nonlinear spectroscopy

Dual-comb spectroscopy (DCS) enables rapid, broadband and high-resolution optical measurements by mapping optical spectra into the radio frequency (RF) domain. However, conventional DCS systems are fundamentally constrained by a tradeoff between optical bandwidth and interferogram acquisition speed, limiting their overall performance. Here, we demonstrate an all-fiber, polarization-maintaining (PM) frequency-agile electro-optic modulation (EOM) dual-comb source that simultaneously achieves a broad optical bandwidth of 10 THz and a high interferogram acquisition speed of up to 2.5 MHz. The high acquisition rate is enabled through an in-phase/quadrature (IQ) modulator-based architecture to shift the carrier frequency of one of the combs. We illustrate the performance of the source through proof-of-concept linear spectroscopy and nonlinear dual-comb coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectroscopy measurements. The combination of large spectral coverage, high refresh rate and an all-PM fiber configuration makes this dual-comb platform attractive for applications such as rapid molecular spectroscopy and high-speed nonlinear spectroscopic imaging.