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Generating wavelength-tunable picosecond laser pulses from an ultrafast laser source is essential for femtosecond stimulated Raman scattering (FSRS) measurements. Etalon filters produce narrowband (picosecond) pulses with an asymmetric temporal profile that is ideal for stimulated resonance Raman excitation. However, direct spectral filtering of femtosecond laser pulses is typically limited to the laser’s fundamental and harmonic frequencies due to very low transmission of broad bandwidth pulses through an etalon. Here, we show that a single etalon filter (15 cm−1 bandwidth; 172 cm−1 free spectral range) provides an efficient and tunable option for generating Raman pump pulses over a wide range of wavelengths when used in combination with an optical parametric amplifier and a second harmonic generation (SHG) crystal that has an appropriate phase-matching bandwidth for partial spectral compression before the etalon. Tuning the SHG wavelength to match individual transmission lines of the etalon filter gives asymmetric picosecond pump pulses over a range of 460–650 nm. Importantly, the SHG crystal length determines the temporal rise time of the filtered pulse, which is an important property for reducing background and increasing Raman signals compared with symmetric pulses having the same total energy. We examine the wavelength-dependent trade-off between spectral narrowing via SHG and the asymmetric pulse shape after transmission through the etalon. This approach provides a relatively simple and efficient method to generate tunable pump pulses with the optimum temporal profile for resonance-enhanced FSRS measurements across the visible region of the spectrum.
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Implementation of Broadband near-UV Pump Pulses for Ultrafast 2D Electronic-Vibrational Spectroscopy
We present the generation of efficient, tunable sub-20 fs broadband near UV pulses. The tunable pulses are used in two-dimensional electronic-vibrational spectroscopy and reveal additional vibronic states in an excited state intramolecular proton transfer process.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1856413
- PAR ID:
- 10470820
- Publisher / Repository:
- Optica Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 978-1-943580-83-5
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- Tu2A.2
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Washington, D.C.
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1364/UP.2020.Tu2A.2
