Compact coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscope based on a picosecond two-color Er:fiber laser system

We present a compact coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering microscope based on a widely tunable picosecond Er: fiber laser. Intense and bandwidth-limited 1 ps pump pulses at a center wavelength of 775 nm are generated via frequency mixing within the broadband fundamental at 1.55 mu m. Narrowband Stokes pulses are obtained by frequency shifting of solitons in a highly nonlinear bulk fiber and subsequent second-harmonic generation. The tuning range from 850 nm to 1100 nm gives access to vibrational resonances between 1150 cm(-1) and 3800 cm(-1). A first imaging application in the spectral region of CH stretch vibrations is demonstrated. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America