Ultrafast Laser-Based Spectroscopy and Sensing: Applications in LIBS, CARS, and THz Spectroscopy

Ultrafast pulsed lasers find application in a range of spectroscopy and sensing techniques including laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), coherent Raman spectroscopy, and terahertz (THz) spectroscopy. Whether based on absorption or emission processes, the characteristics of these techniques are heavily influenced by the use of ultrafast pulses in the signal generation process. Depending on the energy of the pulses used, the essential laser interaction process can primarily involve lattice vibrations, molecular rotations, or a combination of excited states produced by laser heating. While some of these techniques are currently confined to sensing at close ranges, others can be implemented for remote spectroscopic sensing owing principally to the laser pulse duration. We present a review of ultrafast laser-based spectroscopy techniques and discuss the use of these techniques to current and potential chemical and environmental sensing applications

Observing the temperature dependent transition of the GP2 peptide using terahertz spectroscopy

The GP2 peptide is derived from the Human Epidermal growth factor Receptor 2 (HER2/nue), a marker protein for breast cancer present in saliva. In this paper we study the temperature dependent behavior of hydrated GP2 at terahertz frequencies and find that the peptide undergoes a dynamic transition between 200 and 220 K. By fitting suitable molecular models to the frequency response we determine the molecular processes involved above and below the transition temperature (TD). In particular, we show that below TD the dynamic transition is dominated by a simple harmonic vibration with a slow and temperature dependent relaxation time constant and that above TD, the dynamic behavior is governed by two oscillators, one of which has a fast and temperature independent relaxation time constant and the other of which is a heavily damped oscillator with a slow and temperature dependent time constant. Furthermore a red shifting of the characteristic frequency of the damped oscillator was observed, confirming the presence of a non-harmonic vibration potential. Our measurements and modeling of GP2 highlight the unique capabilities of THz spectroscopy for protein characterization.Yiwen Sun, Zexuan Zhu, Siping Chen, Jega Balakrishnan, Derek Abbott, Anil T. Ahuja and Emma Pickwell-MacPherso

Decoherence suppression in a resonant driving field

Resonant radio frequency (rf) control fields have been employed to suppress decoherence in single quantum bits (qubits) encoded in the probability amplitudes of np fine-structure states in Li Rydberg atoms. As described previously [1], static electric-field tuning of the spin and orbital angular momentum composition of the fine-structure eigenstates enables qubit storage in an approximate decoherence-free subspace in which phase errors due to small stray electric and magnetic fields are strongly suppressed. In addition, it was found that sequences of short electric field pulses could be utilized in a 'bang-bang' dynamic decoupling scheme to improve coherence times. We now show that a continuous resonant rf field can also suppress decoherence in this system. The rf-dressed fine-structure states form a more robust basis in which the energy splitting between the component qubit levels is locked to the drive frequency, and decoherence is essentially eliminated. Measurements of the operational range of rf frequency and field strength required to achieve decoherence suppression are in agreement with the predictions of a two-level mode