Coherent anti-Stokes Raman holography

1. An apparatus, the apparatus being a four-wave mixing (FWM) holography apparatus for characterizing a sample, the apparatus comprising:

a sample illumination system comprising a pulsed or continuous wave laser, said laser configured to generate a first beam, said system further generating a second beam from said laser or a second laser;

a third beam generator comprising a radiation source, said third beam generator providing a third beam;

a sample electromagnetically associated with said first beam and said third beam wherein a frequency difference between said first beam and said third beam matches a resonant frequency of the sample so as to generate a four-wave mixing (FWM) signal from the sample;

a reference beam and the FWM signal combining to form a FWM hologram; and

an imaging device, the imaging device capturing the FWM hologram.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , the first beam and the second beam being provided by a single pump-probe beam from a single laser,

the third beam being a Stokes beam or an anti-Stokes beam.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , the apparatus being a coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) holography apparatus,

the FWM signal being a CARS signal, and

the third beam being a Stokes beam.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein said third beam generator is an optical parametric oscillator

configured to generate both the Stokes beam and the reference beam,

the OPO being tunable so as to adjust the frequencies of both the Stokes beam and the reference beam simultaneously,

the reference beam remaining frequency matched to the CARS signal as the OPO is tuned.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a layer of nonlinear material adjacent the sample, the reference beam being generated by said layer of nonlinear material.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , the reference beam and at least one of the first, second, and third beams being broadband beams, so as to generate a plurality of FWM holograms having different spatial carrier frequencies.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , the apparatus further including a signal analyzer, the hologram carrier frequency being selectable by the signal analyzer to form an image of a selected FWM process within the sample.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , the imaging device being an electronic imaging device,

the apparatus further including a signal analyzer operable to receive a hologram signal from the electronic imaging device and to create an image of the sample from the hologram signal using signal processing.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , the image corresponding to an image plane within the sample, the image plane location being adjustable by adjustment of a signal processing parameter.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , the image corresponding to a FWM hologram frequency, the FWM hologram frequency being selected from a multiplex of hologram frequencies by adjustment of a signal processing parameter.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , the apparatus being a coherent Stokes Raman scattering (CSRS) holography apparatus,

the FWM signal being a CSRS signal,

the third beam being an anti-Stokes beam.

12. A method of obtaining a four-wave mixing (FWM) image of a sample, the method comprising:

illuminating the sample with a first beam and a third beam so as to generate a FWM signal from the sample, wherein a frequency difference between said first beam and said third beam matches a resonant frequency of the sample;

providing a reference beam, the reference beam being frequency matched to the FWM signal;

combining the reference beam and the FWM signal so as to generate a FWM hologram of the sample;

detecting the FWM hologram using an imaging device; and

analyzing the detected FWM hologram to obtain an image of the sample.

13. The method of claim 12 , the first beam and the second beam being provided by a single pump/probe beam comprising pulsed laser radiation,

the third beam being a Stokes beam or an anti-Stokes beam.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the FWM hologram is a coherent anti-Stokes Raman hologram (CARS hologram),

the FWM signal being a CARS signal,

the third beam being a Stokes beam.

15. The method of claim 14 , further including generating the Stokes beam and the reference beam using an optical parametric oscillator (OPO),

the OPO being tunable so as to adjust the frequencies of both the third beam and the reference beam simultaneously.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising generating the reference beam using a nonlinear material located proximate the sample.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the reference beam and at least one of the first beam, and the third beam are broadband beams, so as to simultaneously generate a plurality of FWM holograms having differing hologram carrier frequencies.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising selecting a FWM hologram carrier frequency so as to form an image arising from a selected FWM process within the sample.

19. The method of claim 12 , further including

detecting the FWM hologram using an electronic imaging device to obtain a hologram signal; and

creating an image of the sample by digital processing of the hologram signal.

20. The method of claim 19 , the image corresponding to an image plane within the sample,

the method further comprising adjusting the location of the image plane by digital processing of the hologram signal.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising selecting a FWM hologram frequency from a plurality of hologram frequencies by signal processing of the hologram signal.

22. The method of claim 12 , wherein the FWM hologram is a coherent Stokes Raman hologram (CSRS hologram), a stimulated Raman hologram, or a Brillouin scattering hologram.

23. The method of claim 12 , the image being obtained using a single pulse of illumination.

24. The method of claim 12 , further comprising obtaining a temporal sequence of FWM holograms to track a dynamic process within the sample.