メインコンテンツに移動
Search

Pump-Probe Spectroscopy

Related products: MFLI, HF2LI, UHFLI, UHF-BOX

Application Description

diagram of a pump-probe spectroscopy setup using the Zurich Instruments UHFBOX Boxcar Averager

Pump-probe schemes are used to measure ultrafast phenomena using short laser pulses. As the pump pulse impinges on the sample, various physical phenomena can be induced – for instance, an electronic excitation. After an adjustable time delay often controlled with an optical delay line, a probe pulse hits the sample: its transmission and/or reflection is consequently measured. By monitoring the probe signal as a function of the time delay, it is possible to obtain information on the decay dynamics of the generated excitation.

A key aspect of pump-probe measurements is that the time resolution is governed by the duration of the laser pulses and not the bandwidth of the photodetectors or the signal-recording electronics. Numerous techniques investigating ultrafast phenomena are based on the pump-probe scheme, such as THz and Raman spectroscopy.

Measurement Strategies

The repetition rates of pulsed lasers are typically between a few kHz and hundreds of MHz. As the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of individual pulses is often very small, sensitive detection electronics and heavy averaging are required. Two of the most common approaches are:

  • Use fast photodetectors in combination with boxcar averaging. This makes it possible to record the signal over a short duty cycle, and therefore excludes the vast amounts of data recording time where only noise is present. This method offers the highest SNR but is also the most demanding for the electronics.
  • Adjust the bandwidth of the photodetector such that the resulting signal covers the entire period and is close to a sinusoidal. This technique can rely on a lock-in amplifier for signal detection, which is easy to set up and provides sufficient SNR as all non-synchronous noise components are efficiently rejected.

Product Highlights

UHFLI 600 MHz Lock-in Amplifier

MFLI 500 kHz / 5 MHz Lock-in Amplifier

  • 2x DC-600 MHz, 12 bit Voltage Inputs
  • 2x Boxcar Averager units (requires the UHF-BOX option)
  • 30 ns - 76 s low-pass filter time constant
  • API programming support for Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, C, .NET
  • DC - 500kHz/5MHz 16 bit Current and Voltage Inputs
  • Ultra-low and flat Input Voltage Noise: < 2.5 nV/√Hz (> 1kHz)
  • Short time constants: 337 ns to 83 s
  • API programming support for Python, MATLAB, LabVIEW, C, .NET

The Benefits of Choosing Zurich Instruments

  • With Zurich Instruments, you can pursue the two discussed measurement strategies. In fact, both can run simultaneously on the UHFLI and can thus be directly compared. For a low repetition rate and experiments on a lower budget, the HF2LI or the MFLI are attractive alternatives for the second approach.
  • The UHF-BOX is the only synchronous boxcar averager. It rejects all noise sources not synchronized with your lasers.
  • The UHF-BOX acquires data without dead times, thus minimizing the total measurement time.
  • With the Periodic Waveform Analyzer, a highly averaged view of your basic signal allows you to easily define the boxcar windows.
  • If your setup enables you to “blank” every second pump-pulse, our background subtraction feature allows you to take measurements independently of background noise and DC shifts of the signal.

お問い合わせ     価格お問合せ

Video

LabOne Boxcar Averager Tutorial

LabOne Boxcar Averager Tutorial

Related Webinars

Lock-in Amplifier or Boxcar Averager? Choosing the Right Measurement Tool for Periodic Signals

Lock-in Amplifier or Boxcar Averager? Choosing the Right Measurement Tool for Periodic Signals

Boost Your Signal-to-Noise Ratio with Lock-in Detection

Boost Your Signal-To-Noise Ratio with Lock-in Detection

Focus on Recovering Signals in Optical Experiments

Focus on Recovering Signals in Optical Experiments I Zurich Instruments Webinar

Nanoscale Light-Matter Interactions

Nanoscale Light-matter Interaction I Zurich Instruments Webinar

Related Blog Posts

Related Publications

Kolarczik, M. et al.

Sideband pump-probe technique resolves nonlinear modulation response of PbS/CdS quantum dots on a silicon nitride waveguide

APL Photonics 3, 016101 (2018)

Gilburd, L., Xu, X.G., Bando, Y., Golberg, D. & Walker, G.C.

Near-field infrared pump–probe imaging of surface phonon coupling in boron nitride nanotubes

J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 7, 289–294 (2016)

Lo, S.S., Shi, H.Y., Huang, L. & Hartland, G.V.

Imaging the extent of plasmon excitation in Au nanowires using pump-probe microscopy

Opt. Lett. 38, 1265-1267 (2013)

お問い合わせ