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

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. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

Dual-comb microscopy (DCM) is an imaging modality based on optical-frequency-comb (OFC) mode, providing scan-less full-field imaging and confocal amplitude and phase imaging. The practicality of DCM is limited by the complexity and costs of fully frequency-stabilized OFC sources. This study introduces a low-complexity OFC source for DCM using a bidirectional single-cavity dual-comb fiber laser (SCDCFL), and demonstrates the effectiveness of computational image correction in reducing image blur. The proposed method enhances DCM generality and practicality, suggesting a possibility to extend computational image correction to dynamic objects.