The ac Stark effect in nitric oxide induced by rapidly swept continuous wave quantum cascade lasers

A large ac Stark effect has been observed when nitric oxide, at low pressure in a long optical path (100 m) Herriot cell, is subjected to infrared radiation from a rapidly swept, continuous wave infrared quantum cascade laser. As the frequency sweep rate of the laser is increased, an emission signal induced by rapid passage occurs after the laser frequency has passed through the resonance of 1-0 R(11.5)(3/2 /)molecular absorption line. At very high sweep rates a laser field-induced splitting of the absorptive part of the signal is observed, due to the ac Stark effect. This splitting is related to the Autler-Townes mixing of the e, f lambda doublet components of the 1-0 R(11.5)(3/2) transition, which lie under the Doppler broadened envelope.     

Observation of infrared free-induction decay and optical nutation signals from nitrous oxide using a current modulated quantum cascade laser

Free induction decay (FID), optical nutation, and rapid passage induced signals in nitrous oxide, under both optically thin and optically thick conditions, have been observed using a rapid current pulse modulation, or chirp, applied to the slow current ramp of a quantum cascade (QC) laser. The variation in optical depth was achieved by increasing the pressure of nitrous oxide in a long path length multipass absorption cell. This allows the variation of optical depth to be achieved over a range of low gas pressures. Since, even at the highest gas pressure used in the cell, the chirp rate of the QC laser is faster than the collisional reorientation time of the molecules, there is minimal collisional damping, allowing a large macroscopic polarization of the molecular dipoles to develop. This is referred to as rapid passage induced polarization. The resultant FID signals are enhanced due to the constructive interference between the field within the gas generated by the slow ramp of the laser (pump), and that of the fast chirp of the laser (probe) signal generated by pulse modulation of the continuously operating QC laser. The FID signals obtained at large optical depth have not been observed previously in the mid-infrared regions, and unusual oscillatory signals have been observed at the highest gas pressures used.     

High precision measurements of atmospheric nitrous oxide and methane using thermoelectrically cooled mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers and detectors

A compact, fast response, mid-infrared absorption spectrometer using thermoelectrically (TE) cooled pulsed quantum cascade (QC) lasers and TE detectors has been developed to demonstrate the applicability of QC lasers for high precision measurements of nitrous oxide and methane in the earth's atmosphere. Reduced pressure extractive sampling with a 56 m path length, 0.5 l volume, multiple pass absorption cell allows a time response of <0.1s which is suitable for eddy correlation flux measurements for these gases. Precision of 0.3 ppb (rms, 1s averaging time) or 0.1% of the ambient concentration for N(2)O (4 ppb or 0.2% of ambient for CH(4)), has been demonstrated using QC lasers at 4.5 microm (7.9 microm for CH(4)), corresponding to an absorbance precision of 4 x 10(-5) Hz(-1/2) (8 x 10(-5) Hz(-1/2) for CH(4)). Stabilization of the temperature of the optical bench and the pulse electronics results in a minimum Allan variance corresponding to 0.06 ppb for N(2)O with an averaging time of 100 s (0.7 ppb with an averaging time of 200 s for CH(4)). The instrument is capable of long-term, unattended, continuous operation without cryogenic cooling of either laser or detector.     

Population transfer and rapid passage effects in a low pressure gas using a continuous wave quantum cascade laser

A continuous wave quantum cascade laser (cw-QCL) operating at 10 μm has been used to record absorption spectra of low pressure samples of OCS in an astigmatic Herriott cell. As a result of the frequency chirp of the laser, the spectra show clearly the effects of rapid passage on the absorption line shape. At the low chirp rates that can be obtained with the cw-QCL, population transfer between rovibrational quantum states is predicted to be much more efficient than in typical pulsed QCL experiments. This optical pumping is investigated by solving the Maxwell Bloch equations to simulate the propagation of the laser radiation through an inhomogeneously broadened two-level system. The calculated absorption profiles show good quantitative agreement with those measured experimentally over a range of chirp rates and optical thicknesses. It is predicted that at a low chirp rate of 0.13 MHz ns(-1), the population transfer between rovibrational quantum states is 12%, considerably more than that obtained at the higher chirp rates utilised in pulsed QCL experiments.     

Intra-puff CO and CO2 measurements of cigarettes with iron oxide cigarette paper using quantum cascade laser spectroscopy

The objective of this research was to apply Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and tunable infrared laser differential absorption spectroscopy (TILDAS) for measuring selected gaseous constituents in mainstream (MS) and sidestream (SS) smoke for experimental cigarettes designed to reduce MS CO using iron oxide cigarette papers. These two complimentary analytical techniques are well suited for providing per puff smoke deliveries and intra-puff evolution profiles in cigarette smoke respectively. The quad quantum cascade (QC) laser high resolution infrared spectroscopy system has the necessary temporal and spectral resolution and whole smoke analysis capabilities to provide detailed information for CO and CO(2) as they are being formed in both MS and SS smoke. The QC laser system has an optimal data rate of 20 Hz and a unique puffing system, with a square wave shaped puff, that allows whole smoke to enter an 18 m, 0.3 L multi-pass gas cell in real time (0.1s cell response time) requiring no syringe or Cambridge filter pad. Another similar multi-pass gas cell with a 36 m pathlength simultaneously monitors the sidestream cigarette smoke. The smoke from experimental cigarettes manufactured with two types of iron oxide papers were compared to the smoke from cigarettes manufactured similarly without iron oxide in the paper using both instrument systems. The delivery per puff determined by the QC laser method agreed with FTIR results. MS CO intra-puff evolution profiles for iron oxide prototype cigarettes demonstrated CO reduction when compared to cigarettes without iron oxide paper. Additionally, both CO and CO(2) intra-puff evolution profiles of the cigarettes with iron oxide paper showed a significant reduction at the initial portion of the 2 s puff not observed in the non-iron oxide prototype cigarettes. This effect also was observed for ammonia and ethylene, suggesting that physical parameters such as paper porosity and burn rate are important. The SS CO and CO(2) deliveries for the experimental cigarettes evaluated remained unaffected. The iron oxide paper technology remains under development and continues to be evaluated.     

Quad quantum cascade laser spectrometer with dual gas cells for the simultaneous analysis of mainstream and sidestream cigarette smoke

A compact, fast response, infrared spectrometer using four pulsed quantum cascade (QC) lasers has been applied to the analysis of gases in mainstream (MS) and sidestream (SS) cigarette smoke. QC lasers have many advantages over the traditional lead-salt tunable diode lasers, including near room temperature operation with thermoelectric cooling and single mode operation with improved long-term stability. The new instrument uses two 36 m, 0.3 l multiple pass absorption gas cells to obtain a time response of 0.1s for the MS smoke system and 0.4s for the SS smoke system. The concentrations of ammonia, ethylene, nitric oxide, and carbon dioxide for three different reference cigarettes were measured simultaneously in MS and SS smoke. A data rate of 20Hz provides sufficient resolution to determine the concentration profiles during each 2s puff in the MS smoke. Concentration profiles before, during and after the puffs also have been observed for these smoke constituents in SS smoke. Also, simultaneous measurements of CO(2) from a non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) analyzer are obtained for both MS and SS smoke. In addition, during this work, nitrous oxide was detected in both the MS and SS smoke for all reference cigarettes studied.     

Ethylene spectroscopy using a quasi-room-temperature quantum cascade laser

Spectroscopic measurements on ethylene were performed using a quasi-room-temperature quantum cascade (QC) laser operated in pulsed mode in the 10.3 microm range. Using transmission spectroscopy, a broadening of the ethylene absorption spectrum was observed with increasing laser pulse duration, due to an increase of the laser linewidth. This linewidth was determined from the measured absorption spectra, showing a value of 0.04 cm(-1) for a 20 ns pulse duration and an enhancement coefficient of 6.5 x 10(-3) cm(-1) per ns in the 20-50 ns pulse length range. Photoacoustic (PA) detection of ethylene was also performed using the QC laser and a resonant PA cell, with a detection limit of 60 ppm.     

Influence of Femtosecond Laser Parameters on Autler-Townes Splitting of Three-Level Ladder Molecules

We theoretically investigate the Autler-Townes (AT) splitting in the photoelectron spectra of three-level ladder K₂ molecule driven by a pump-probe pulse via employing the timedependent wave packet approach. The dependence of AT splitting on two laser intensities and wavelengths are studied in detail. We firstly quantify these effects on peak shift and AT separation. The photoelectron spectra show double splitting with symmetric profiles, but with asymmetric profiles when the wavelength is changed. The magnitude of AT splitting increases with the pump laser intensity, but does not vary with probe intensity. The shifts of the absorption peaks and the splitting between AT doublet are predicted by using an analytical fitting function when the intensity/wavelength of one of the two fields is changed. These novel results are of importance for the molecular spectroscopy and may further stimulate the first principles theoretical studies analytically.     

Simultaneous Determination of Carbon Disulfide,Carbon Monoxide,and Dinitrogen Oxide by Differential Absorption Spectroscopy Using a Distributed Feedback Quantum Cascade Laser

Differential absorption spectroscopy with a distributed feedback quantum cascade laser source was used for the simultaneous determination of carbon disulfide, carbon monoxide, and dinitrogen oxide. The tunable laser, which provides higher resolution and sensitivity, makes the absorption spectroscopy more sensitive for CS₂. Furthermore, an important consequence of using a multiple-component spectral fitting with simulated reference signals is the reduction of noise and optical fringes. The results showed that CS₂, CO, and N₂O were simultaneously determined with accuracies of 2.6, 2.8, and 1.8%. The detection limit for CS₂ was estimated to be 10.5 parts-per-billion with a path length of 11.774?m, which indicates that differential absorption spectroscopy is sensitive for the multiple-component analysis of the atmosphere.     

近红外量子剪裁研究进展

目前,发光材料在信息、显示、照明、国防等领域得到了极其广泛的应用．随着人们对发光和发光材料基本科学问题的认识及其广阔而不可替代的应用前景的驱动,发光和发光材料领域在过去100年间迅速发展．量子效率大于1的发光及光功能材料有望在高效发光、等离子体平板显示、高效光纤激光器、高效太阳能光电池等领域得到广泛应用．深入研究光子材料的激发与发光、能量传递与转换、敏化发光与光放大等物理和光学基本科学问题,不但有益于揭示光子材料的一些新现象、新规律,而且将为光子材料与器件的设计与研制奠定理论和方法基础．本文概述了近红外量子剪裁的发展及其材料和相关机理的最近研究进展,主要包括稀土离子单掺体系双光子和三光子级联发射近红外量子剪裁、稀土离子对共掺体系近红外量子剪裁下转换．此外,本文还讨论了量子剪裁及其材料体系的应用、面临的挑战和未来的发展方向．     

Three‐peak Autler‐Townes splitting in the photoelectron spectrum of Li2 molecules caused by femtosecond laser pulses

Three‐peak Autler‐Townes (A‐T) splitting in the resonant multiphoton ionization photoelectron spectrum for a rotating Li₂ molecular system in femtosecond pulse laser fields is studied by using two‐dimension time‐dependent quantum wave packet method. The A‐T splitting results from rapid Rabi oscillation caused by intense femtosecond laser pulses. Because of the effects of molecular rotation and alignment, the Rabi oscillation in the population distribution will be damped in a certain degree. The three‐peak A‐T splitting can only be observed for a strongly aligned molecule with rapid Rabi oscillation. The three‐peak A‐T splitting dynamics can be affected by intensity, duration, temporal profile of laser pulse, and initial molecular rotational temperature. The conditions to observe the A‐T splitting are discussed in detail. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2010     

Li2 Autler-Townes分裂的实验观察

用光学-光学双共振激光光谱研究了 7Li2A 1Σ+u态的Autler-Townes (A-T) 分裂.一个强的耦合场 (泵浦激光)激发 7Li2A 1Σ+u v′, J′← X 1Σ+g v″, J″跃迁,诱发A 1Σ+u v′, J′能级和 X 1Σ+gv″, J″能级的A-T分裂.另一个探测激光从A 1Σ+u v′,J′能级进一步激发到4 1Σ+g态.扫描探测激光,监测4 1Σ+g态碰撞诱导紫色荧光,从而探测A 1Σ+u v′, J′能级的A-T分裂.当耦合场频率偏离共振时,激发光谱线出现双重分裂.在该实验条件下,分裂大小和泵浦激光频率偏离共振频率的失谐量成正比. 研究了A-T分裂的两条线的相对强度与泵浦、探测光的强度及缓冲气体压力的关系.     

Aromatic Radical Anions in Neat Aromatic Hydrocarbons as Solvents. Direct evidence of through space spin-density transfer to the ligand of the counter ion

Contact ion pairs of aromatic radical anions, with a crown ether complex of potassium as cation in a neat aromatic hydrocarbon, can be obtained by reducing the aromatic hydrocarbon in which a small amount of crown ether is dissolved. The unpaired electron stays attached to one aromatic molecule during a time interval which is long on the ESR. time scale. The radicals are stabilized by ion-pair formation in the low polarity solvent. As a consequence of this stabilization, radicals of compounds with low electron affinities, e.g. mesitylene, can be prepared. Mesitylene, m-xylene, and toluene show additional hyperfine splitting in the ESR. spectra of their anion radical pairs of the order of 18 μT. The proton ENDOR. spectra have signals at the corresponding frequencies, indicating a hyperfine coupling with protons of the crown ether ligand. Using mixtures of two aromatic compounds, their relative electron affinities can be determined by studying the temperature dependence of the radical concentrations.     

Probing the transition from hydrophilic to hydrophobic solvation with atomic scale resolution

Picosecond and femtosecond X-ray absorption spectroscopy is used to probe the changes of the solvent shell structure upon electron abstraction of aqueous iodide using an ultrashort laser pulse. The transient L(1,3) edge EXAFS at 50 ps time delay points to the formation of an expanded water cavity around the iodine atom, in good agreement with classical and quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. These also show that while the hydrogen atoms pointed toward iodide, they predominantly point toward the bulk solvent in the case of iodine, suggesting a hydrophobic behavior. This is further confirmed by quantum chemical (QC) calculations of I(-)/I(0)(H(2)O)(n=1-4) clusters. The L(1) edge sub-picosecond spectra point to the existence of a transient species that is not present at 50 ps. The QC calculations and the QM/MM MD simulations identify this transient species as an I(0)(OH(2)) complex inside the cavity. The simulations show that upon electron abstraction most of the water molecules move away from iodine, while one comes closer to form the complex that lives for 3-4 ps. This time is governed by the reorganization of the main solvation shell, basically the time it takes for the water molecules to reform an H-bond network. Only then is the interaction with the solvation shell strong enough to pull the water molecule of the complex toward the bulk solvent. Overall, much of the behavior at early times is determined by the reorientational dynamics of water molecules and the formation of a complete network of hydrogen bonded molecules in the first solvation shell.     

Cocaine detection by a mid-infrared waveguide integrated with a microfluidic chip

A germanium (Ge) strip waveguide on a silicon (Si) substrate is integrated with a microfluidic chip to detect cocaine in tetrachloroethylene (PCE) solutions. In the evanescent field of the waveguide, cocaine absorbs the light near 5.8 μm, which is emitted from a quantum cascade laser. This device is ideal for (bio-)chemical sensing applications.     

Electronic spectrum of TaO and its hyperfine structure

The B (2)Phi(5/2)-X(1) (2)Delta(3/2)(0,0) band at 778 nm and the C (2)Delta(3/2)-X(1) (2)Delta(3/2)(0,0) band at 737 nm of tantalum oxide (TaO) were recorded by laser excitation spectroscopy using a hollow cathode sputtering source to generate the molecules. The hyperfine structure arising from the (181)Ta (I=72) nucleus was measured at sub-Doppler resolution using the technique of intermodulated fluorescence spectroscopy. The hyperfine structure was assigned and fitted in order to derive accurate values for the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole interactions. The magnetic hyperfine constant for the ground electronic state was also calculated using the density functional theory as h(3/2)=625 MHz, in good agreement with the experimental value of 647+/-10 MHz. This result suggests that the X (2)Delta ground state of TaO is well described by a pure deltasigma(2) electronic configuration, where the unpaired electron is located in a Ta 5ddelta orbital.     

Stabilization, injection and control of quantum cascade lasers, and their application to chemical sensing in the infrared

Quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) are a relatively new type of semiconductor laser operating in the mid- to long-wave infrared. These monopolar multilayered quantum well structures can be fabricated to operate anywhere between 3.5 and 20 microm, which includes the molecular fingerprint region of the infrared. This makes them an ideal choice for infrared chemical sensing, a topic of great interest at present. Frequency stabilization and injection locking increase the utility of QCLs. We present results of locking QCLs to optical cavities, achieving relative linewidths down to 5.6 Hz. We report injection locking of one distributed feedback grating QCL with light from a similar QCL, demonstrating capture ranges of up to +/-500 MHz, and suppression of amplitude modulation by up to 49 dB. We also present various cavity-enhanced chemical sensors employing the frequency stabilization techniques developed, including the resonant sideband technique known as NICE-OHMS. Sensitivities of 9.7 x 10(-11) cm(-1) Hz(-1/2) have been achieved in pure nitrous oxide.     

Infrared and microwave spectra of the acetylene-ammonia and carbonyl sulfide-ammonia complexes: a comparative study of a weak C-H···N hydrogen bond and an S···N bond

We report a combined high resolution infrared and microwave spectroscopic investigation of the acetylene-ammonia and carbonyl sulfide-ammonia complexes using a pulsed slit-nozzle multipass absorption spectrometer based on a quantum cascade laser and a pulsed nozzle beam Fourier transform microwave spectrometer, respectively. The ro-vibrational transitions of the acetylene-ammonia complex have been measured at 6 μm in the vicinity of the ν(4) band of ammonia for the first time. The previously reported pure rotational transitions have been extended to higher J and K values with (14)N nuclear quadrupole hyperfine components detected and analyzed. The spectral analysis reveals that acetylene binds to ammonia through a C-H···N weak hydrogen bond to form a C(3v) symmetric top, consistent with the previous microwave [Fraser et al., J. Chem. Phys., 1984, 80, 1423] and infrared spectroscopic study at 3 μm [Hilpert et al., J. Chem. Phys., 1996, 105, 6183]. A parallel study has also been carried out for the carbonyl sulfide-ammonia complex whose pure rotational and ro-vibrational spectra at 6 μm have been detected and analyzed for the first time. The spectral and the subsequent structural analyses, in conjunction with the corresponding ab initio calculation, indicate that the OCS-NH(3) complex assumes C(3v) symmetry with S pointing to N of NH(3), in contrast to the T-shaped geometries obtained for the isoelectronic N(2)O-NH(3) and CO(2)-NH(3) complexes.     

Sub-Doppler optical one-photon spectroscopy of binary mixtures of neutral,mutually interacting gases with lasers: dispersion spectra

We consider in this paper the optical, sub-Doppler high resolution dispersion spectra for one-photon transitions of a mixture of two different interacting gases. The gases are supposed to be neutral and each molecule of the mixture interacts with molecules of the same kind and with molecules of different kinds, via hard collisions. Those interactions are restricted to binary collisions treated in the so-called impact approximation. We calculate the dispersion optical sub-Doppler spectra of a weak laser beam in the presence of a strong, saturating, counterpropagating laser one. The optical fields of both lasers are supposed to be travelling electromagnetic plane monochromatic waves. The angular frequencies ω₁ and ω₂ of those waves are taken, in general as different. An appropriate parametrizing procedure of all the physical quantities involved for treating this problem is taken.     

Measurement of the electronic transition dipole moment by Autler-Townes splitting: Comparison of three- and four-level excitation schemes for the Na2 A 1Sigma(u)+ - X 1Sigma(g)+ system

We present a fundamentally new approach for measuring the transition dipole moment of molecular transitions, which combines the benefits of quantum interference effects, such as the Autler-Townes splitting, with the familiar R-centroid approximation. This method is superior to other experimental methods for determining the absolute value of the R-dependent electronic transition dipole moment function mu(e)(R), since it requires only an accurate measurement of the coupling laser electric field amplitude and the determination of the Rabi frequency from an Autler-Townes split fluorescence spectral line. We illustrate this method by measuring the transition dipole moment matrix element for the Na2 A 1Sigma(u)+ (v' = 25, J' = 20e)-X 1Sigma(g)+ (v" = 38, J" = 21e) rovibronic transition and compare our experimental results with our ab initio calculations. We have compared the three-level (cascade) and four-level (extended Lambda) excitation schemes and found that the latter is preferable in this case for two reasons. First, this excitation scheme takes advantage of the fact that the coupling field lower level is outside the thermal population range. As a result vibrational levels with larger wave function amplitudes at the outer turning point of vibration lead to larger transition dipole moment matrix elements and Rabi frequencies than those accessible from the equilibrium internuclear distance of the thermal population distribution. Second, the coupling laser can be "tuned" to different rovibronic transitions in order to determine the internuclear distance dependence of the electronic transition dipole moment function in the region of the R-centroid of each coupling laser transition. Thus the internuclear distance dependence of the transition moment function mu(e)(R) can be determined at several very different values of the R centroid. The measured transition dipole moment matrix element for the Na2 A 1Sigma(u)+ (v' = 25, J' = 20e)-X 1Sigma(g)+ (v" = 38, J" = 21e) transition is 5.5+/-0.2 D compared to our ab initio value of 5.9 D. By using the R-centroid approximation for this transition the corresponding experimental electronic transition dipole moment is 9.72 D at Rc = 4.81 A, in good agreement with our ab initio value of 10.55 D.