Double-resonance versus pulsed Fourier transform two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy: an experimental and theoretical comparison

In this study we focus on the differences and analogies of two experimental implementations of two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) spectroscopy: double-resonance or dynamic hole burning 2D-IR spectroscopy and pulsed Fourier transform or heterodyne detected photon echo spectroscopy. A comparison is done theoretically as well as experimentally by contrasting data obtained from both methods. As an example we have studied the strongly coupled asymmetric and symmetric carbonyl stretching vibrations of dicarbonylacetylacetonato rhodium dissolved in hexane. Both methods yield the same peaks in a 2D-IR spectrum. Within certain approximations we derive an analytic expression which shows that the 2D-IR spectra are broadened in one frequency dimension in the double-resonance experiment by convolution with the pump pulse spectral width, while the spectral resolution in the other frequency direction is the same in both cases.