Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy with Tunable Visible Broadband Probe Pulse Generated by Kerr-Instability Amplification

Abstract: Femtosecond, broadband stimulated Raman spectroscopy is a popular approach to measuring molecular dynamics with excellent signal-to-noise and spectral resolution. We present a new method for broadband stimulated Raman spectroscopy that employs Kerr-instability amplification to amplify the supercontinuum spectrum from sapphire and create a highly tunable Raman probe spectrum spanning from 530 to 1000 nm (-6000 to 2800 cm^-1). Our method, called Kerr-instability amplification for broadband stimulated Raman spectroscopy (KAB-SRS) provides an alternative to optical parametric amplifiers by producing a broader and more tunable spectrum at a fraction of the cost. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method by measuring the stimulated Raman loss spectrum of 1-decanol.