ABSTRACT
An apparatus for recording broadband infrared absorption spectra from 2.2 to 2.7 microm with subpicosecond time resolution is described. It comprises a new subpicosecond IR continuum generator, based on stimulated electronic Raman scattering in Ba vapor, and a broadband, infrared-to-visible upconverter, utilizing alkali metal vapor.
ABSTRACT
A new technique for time-resolved (5-nsec) recording of broadband infrared absorption spectra is demonstrated. Resonantly enhanced, third-order nonlinearities of metal vapors are used both to produce a pulsed infrared continuum that interrogates the sample and to upconvert this infrared continuum into the visible. Single-shot absorption spectra of CO(2) and H(2)O bands in the region 2.55-2.85 microm were obtained.
