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arXiv · 2607.06961

Single-laser stimulated Brillouin scattering microscopy

Feihong Lin·Zechao Wen·Jiahui Li·Xiaoyu Yang·Haonan Zhang·Jiahe Zhang·Peiqing Zhang·Xu Liu·Qing Yang
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Abstract

Stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) microscopy enables label-free mapping of local viscoelastic properties, but frequency-domain implementations are often limited by uncertainty in the pump-probe frequency-difference axis. We demonstrate an RF-defined single-laser electro-optic-modulation SBS microscope in which the pump and probe are derived from the same optical carrier and their frequency difference is set by an electro-optically generated sideband. This architecture makes laser-frequency noise largely common mode and eliminates optical wavelength tuning during spectral scanning. It achieves Brillouin frequency shift and linewidth precisions of 0.07 MHz and 0.30 MHz, respectively. Comparison with a low-NA reference linewidth indicates a system-level spectral broadening of approximately 3.1 MHz, corresponding to an effective spectral resolution of approximately 3 MHz. Imaging of femtosecond-laser-modified chalcogenide glass resolves MHz-level Brillouin contrasts corresponding to 10^-4-level apparent longitudinal-modulus contrast. This work demonstrates the feasibility of transferring the frequency definition of SBS spectral scanning from optical wavelength tuning to RF-domain control, providing a new conceptual and technical basis for high-precision, high-spectral-fidelity Brillouin imaging.

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Feihong Lin, Zechao Wen, Jiahui Li, Xiaoyu Yang, Haonan Zhang, Jiahe Zhang, Peiqing Zhang, Xu Liu, Qing Yang. 2026-07-08. Single-laser stimulated Brillouin scattering microscopy. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.06961

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