Traditionally, infrared molecular spectroscopy has been performed with frequency-domain measurement techniques. Recent experiments have exploited the outstanding temporal coherence of state-of-the-art femtosecond lasers to overcome long-standing sensitivity and dynamic range limitations of these traditional techniques, with time-domain measurements. Here, we show how state-of-the-art 2-µm femtosecond technology provides (i) Watt-level infrared sources covering the entire molecular fingerprint region, with a spectral brightness exceeding even that of synchrotrons, (ii) background-free, high-sensitivity and high-dynamic range time-domain detection of molecular vibrations via electro-optical sampling with (iii) attosecond temporal accuracy. These advances herald a new regime for time-, frequency- and space-resolved molecular vibrational metrology.

Date Published: 4 March 2019
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Proc. SPIE 10902, Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials and Devices XVIII, 109020U (4 March 2019); doi: 10.1117/12.2514851

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10902:
Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials and Devices XVIII
Peter G. Schunemann; Kenneth L. Schepler, Editor(s)