Galvanometer-scanning transient phase microscopy with balanced detection and arbitrary pump polarization

Transient absorption microscopy measures excited-state kinetics based on the imaginary part of the pump-induced perturbation to the complex refractive index, i.e. $\Im \{\Delta\mathcal N\}$, with applications in both materials and biomedical sciences. Its complement, transient phase microscopy, enabled by stable inline birefringent interferometry, measures the real part $\Re\{\Delta \mathcal N\}$. The ability to switch between absorption and phase measurements may yield a stronger signal, depending on the sample and probe wavelength. To date, however, transient phase has not been coupled with galvanometer scanners, thus limiting it to materials science applications and non-imaging spectroscopy. Here, we extend transient phase microscopy to operate in a galvanometer-scanning microscope with balanced detection, comparing amplitude and phase measurements in graphene (in which amplitude detection has the advantage), hemoglobin and red blood cells (in which phase detection has the advantage). We examine the impacts and limitations introduced by galvanometer scanning, in addition to relocation of the pump-probe combining dichroic to permit arbitrary polarization of the pump.