ISSN:
1089-7623
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
Notes:
We describe a rapid-scanning modified Mach–Zehnder interferometer suitable for use in femtosecond pump–probe or dichroism spectroscopy with self-mode-locked titanium–sapphire oscillators. A galvanometer-type rapid-scanning translation stage is employed in the pump arm of the interferometer. The intensity or polarization of the pump beam is modulated by a fused-silica photoelastic modulator employed as a half-wave retarder. The detection system exploits the rapid-scanning stage and photoelastic modulator by combining phase-sensitive detection with transient digitization. The system we describe permits pump–probe or dichroism spectroscopy to be conducted without temporal distortion of the laser pulses used in the experiment, with high scan-to-scan reproducibility, and with all of the previously noted advantages of rapid-scanning methods in terms of sensitivity. The approach is especially well suited for use with pulse-picked or cavity-dumped sources, which are often required to be operated at moderate pulse-repetition rates in order to avoid artifacts from sample heating or from long-lived intermediates. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1148287
