Methods and apparatus are provided for imaging a response of a sample to radiative heating. A method in accordance with one embodiment has steps of: illuminating a first area of the sample with a radiative heating beam; illuminating a portion of the first area with a probe beam; collecting light exiting the sample due to interaction of the probe beam with the sample; superimposing the light exiting the sample with a reference beam derived from the probe beam, wherein the reference is characterized by an optical phase relative to the probe beam; detecting a spatial portion of the light exiting the sample and the reference beam with at least one detector to generate an interference signal; and processing the interference signal to obtain an image of the sample associated with absorption of the radiative heating beam.