Fig. 2. Experimental setup for dual-comb photoacoustic spectroscopy.
Two frequency combs (lower left) are combined on a beam-splitter and filtered. The combined beam is focused onto a sample in a water bath (upper left). A focused ultrasound transducer measures the photoacoustic pressure waves emitted by the sample when it absorbs light. The transducer output is amplified and filtered before being digitized with a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Approximately 6% of the combined beam is picked off by a calcium-fluoride wedge (center) and used as a reference signal. Another 6% of the beam is used for triggering the data acquisition system (right-center). Additional details are discussed in the methods section.