Direct hyperspectral dual-comb imaging

Even though dual-comb-based systems are employed almost routinely nowadays in an ever-increasing number of applications, an efficient combination of this effective technique with an imaging arrangement, which would undoubtedly revolutionized hyperspectral imaging, had not yet been demonstrated. Here we present the first hyperspectral dual-comb imaging system in which interferograms are directly detected by a video camera. The system, which is based on a dual-comb scheme capable of consistently generating interferograms at a rate of 1 Hz and below, combines fast hyperspectral imaging with unprecedented optical resolution and fully multiplex operation. Various proof-of-principle experiments demonstrating hyperspectral imaging of molecular resonances have proved that the direct hyperspectral dual-comb imaging method presented here is capable of characterizing a scene with super-fine resolution in a narrow optical span within one second.