EXPRESS: Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy Using a Tunable Visible Broadband Probe Pulse Generated by Kerr Instability Amplification

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 significantly reduced cost to OPA implementations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of KAB-SRS by measuring the stimulated Raman loss spectrum of 1-decanol.