Phase-controlled Fourier-transform spectroscopy

Abstract

Fourier-transform spectroscopy (FTS) has been widely used as a standard analytical technique over the past half-century. FTS is an autocorrelation-based technique that is compatible with both temporally coherent and incoherent light sources, and functions as an active or passive spectrometer. However, it has been mostly used for static measurements due to the low scan rate imposed by technological restrictions. This has impeded its application to continuous rapid measurements, which would be of significant interest for a variety of fields, especially when monitoring of non-repeating or transient complex dynamics is desirable. Here, we demonstrate highly efficient FTS operating at a high spectral acquisition rate with a simple delay line based on a dynamic phase-control technique. The independent adjustability of phase and group delays allows us to achieve the Nyquist-limited spectral acquisition rate over 10,000 spectra per second, while maintaining a large spectral bandwidth and high resolution. We also demonstrate passive spectroscopy with an incoherent light source.