Single-shot spectral-volumetric compressed ultrafast photography

In ultrafast optical imaging, it is critical to obtain the spatial structure, temporal evolution, and spectral composition of the object with snapshots in order to better observe and understand unrepeatable or irreversible dynamic scenes. However, so far, there are no ultrafast optical imaging techniques that can simultaneously capture the spatial-temporal-spectral five-dimensional (5D) information of dynamic scenes. To break the limitation of the existing techniques in imaging dimensions, we develop a spectral-volumetric compressed ultrafast photography (SV-CUP) technique. In our SV-CUP, the spatial resolutions in the x, y and z directions are, respectively, 0.39, 0.35, and 3 mm with an 8.8 mm x 6.3 mm field of view, the temporal frame interval is 2 ps, and the spectral frame interval is 1.72 nm. To demonstrate the excellent performance of our SV-CUP in spatial-temporal-spectral 5D imaging, we successfully measure the spectrally resolved photoluminescent dynamics of a 3D mannequin coated with CdSe quantum dots. Our SV-CUP brings unprecedented detection capabilities to dynamic scenes, which has important application prospects in fundamental research and applied science.

Automated summary

The article introduces a new ultrafast optical imaging technique, SV-CUP, which can simultaneously capture the spatial-temporal-spectral 5D information of dynamic scenes with excellent performance. Through experiments, the spectrally resolved photoluminescent dynamics of CdSe quantum dots coated on a 3D mannequin were successfully measured to demonstrate the superior performance of SV-CUP in 5D imaging.