Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy is an emerging technology providing label-free measurements of the viscoelastic properties of biological samples. Traditionally, Brillouin spectroscopy is performed using multipass Fabry Perot spectrometers, which allows high spectral extinction but low speed, or cross-axis Virtually Image Phased Array (VIPA) based spectrometers, with rapid single shot measurements but limited extinction. Here we present a multipass VIPA-based spectrometer, in which light is dispersed along the same axis at every stage and recirculated in the same etalon multiple times. This technical advancement allows single-shot high extinction Brillouin measurements as well as reduced spread of instrumental spectral linewidth.
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