Adaptive real-time dual-comb spectroscopy

With the advent of laser frequency combs, coherent light sources that offer equally-spaced sharp lines over a broad spectral bandwidth have become available. One decade after revolutionizing optical frequency metrology, frequency combs hold much promise for significant advances in a growing number of applications including molecular spectroscopy. Despite its intriguing potential for the measurement of molecular spectra spanning tens of nanometers within tens of microseconds at Doppler-limited resolution, the development of dual-comb spectroscopy is hindered by the extremely demanding high-bandwidth servo-control conditions of the laser combs. Here we overcome this difficulty. We experimentally demonstrate a straightforward concept of real-time dual-comb spectroscopy, which only uses free-running mode-locked lasers without any phase-lock electronics, a posteriori data-processing, or the need for expertise in frequency metrology. The resulting simplicity and versatility of our new technique of adaptive dual-comb spectroscopy offer a powerful transdisciplinary instrument that may spark off new discoveries in molecular sciences.