Development and demonstration of table-top synchronized fast-scan femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy system by single-shot scan photo detector array

Abstract

Ultrafast dynamics is generally studied by pump-probe method with laser pulse, which scans optical delay by motorized stage step by step. Using ultrashort laser pulse shorter than typical molecular vibration periods, the pump-probe measurement can study both of electronic dynamics and vibration dynamics simultaneously. The probe wavelength dependence of the ultrafast electronic and vibration dynamics (UEVD) helps us to distinguish the signal contributions from the dynamics of the electronic ground state and that of the electronic excited states, which elucidates primary reaction mechanism after photoexcitation. Meanwhile, the measurement time of UEVD spectroscopy takes too long time to be used in realistic application. In our previous work, we have developed multi-channel lock-in amplifying (MLA) detectors to study UEVD at all probe wavelengths simultaneously, and synchronized it with laser and fast-scan delay stage to scan the data in five seconds. It enabled us to study UEVD spectroscopy even for photo-fragile materials. However, the home-made MLA detectors required for the measurement is expensive and massive in size and weight, thus not suitable for general researchers in the field of ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy. In the present work, we have developed a table-top synchronized fast-scan femtosecond time-resolved spectroscopy system using single shot scan line CCD. This system measures time-resolved trace at all probe wavelengths simultaneously in five seconds. The CCD-based fast-scan time-resolved spectroscopy system enables us to study ultrafast dynamics of various materials even biomaterials, which have been thought to be hard or even impossible to be studied in previous methods. (C) 2015 The Japan Society of Applied Physics