Mj. Feldstein et al., RAPID-SCAN PUMP-PROBE SPECTROSCOPY WITH HIGH TIME AND WAVE-NUMBER RESOLUTION - OPTICAL-KERR-EFFECT MEASUREMENTS OF NEAT LIQUIDS, Journal of the Optical Society of America. B, Optical physics, 12(8), 1995, pp. 1500-1510
A system for the rapid-scan (RS) acquisition of time-resolved nonlinea
r spectroscopic signals, capable of femtosecond resolution over a rang
e of tens of picoseconds, is presented. Operationally, the system is b
ased on a magnetically driven, commercially available velocity transdu
cer that continuously scans a probe delay line relative to a fixed del
ay line while data are recorded on the fly and in real time. A simple
calibration and data time-scale linearization are carried out and test
ed on optical-heterodyne-detected optical-Kerr-effect measurements. Th
ese results are compared with data acquired with a detection system th
at is based on a stepped delay-line lock-in amplifier. It is found tha
t the RS system is favorable in several areas of signal acquisition, i
ncluding signal-to-noise ratio, acquisition time, spectral resolution
in the Fourier-transformed data, and immunity to artifacts such as bas
eline distortions.