Tunable light source for narrowband laser excitation: application to Raman spectroscopy

In many laser spectroscopic techniques, such as fluorescence Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopy the choice of laser excitation wavelength is of central importance. Thus, it is desirable to have a single laser light source where the wavelength can be tuned fast, easily and continuously without the necessity of changing the optical alignment. Here, such a light source is presented combining a broad spectrum with a spatial light modulator as tunable filter. The feasibility of this setup for Raman spectroscopy is demonstrated.