Apparatus and techniques for broadband Fourier transform spectroscopy can include frequency hopping spread-spectrum spectroscopy approaches. For example, an excitation source power can be spread over a specified frequency bandwidth, such as by applying a sequence of short, transform-limited pulses to a sample. Each pulse can include a specified carrier frequency, and a corresponding bandwidth of the individual pulse can be determined by a frequency domain representation when Fourier transformed. A series of short excitation pulses can be used to create an excitation sequence, such as to deliver a specified or desired amount of power to the sample, such as by having the excitation source enabled for a time comparable to a free induction decay (FID) dephasing time.