Patent ID: 10241131

Abstract:
Systems and methods that enable both spectroscopy and rapid chemical and/or optical imaging using a broadband light source. Broadband light sources may be advantageous for spectroscopy as they simultaneously illuminate a sample with a plurality of wavelengths and use interferometric techniques to determine a material response as a function of wavelength (or equivalently wavenumber). Some embodiments may enable the same radiation sources to be used to efficiently map the spatial distribution of chemical species or optical property variations. This may be achieved via selection of specific optical phase delays within an interferometer that are selected to maximize the contrast between different absorption bands or resonances within the sample. By optimally selecting specific interferometer phases it may be possible to construct images that substantially represent the material response to a specific wavelength excitation, without the necessity to obtain entire spectra at each sample location. This can provide orders of magnitude improvements in the measurement speed for required with a broadband source to provide compositional/optical property mapping.