Optical Frequency Combs Make Ultraviolet Spectroscopy More Sensitive and More Precise

The development promises advances in several scientific and technological fields

18-Mar-2024 - In a recent publication in Nature, researchers at the Max Born Institute (MBI) in Berlin, Germany, and at Max-Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching report on a new technique for deciphering the properties of matter with light, that can simultaneously detect and precisely quantify many ...

Light-driven molecular swing

Scientists have used ultrashort laser pulses to make the atoms of molecules vibrate and have gained a precise understanding of the dynamics of energy transfer

20-Oct-2022 - When light impinges on molecules, it is absorbed and re-emitted. Advances in ultrafast laser technology have steadily improved the level of detail in studies of such light-matter interactions. FRS, a laser spectroscopy method in which the electric field of laser pulses repeating millions of times ...

Pumping up the music of molecules

Significantly improving the "sense of smell" of molecular laser spectroscopy: Increases chances to reliably detect diseases

25-Aug-2022 - Sensitive animal noses can sniff out trace particles, such as volatile organic compounds, in the ambient air. Humans, on the other hand, are developing innovative technologies for this purpose, such as optical spectroscopy. This uses laser light to detect the molecular composition of gases. It ...

Most powerful dual-comb spectrometer developed

System paves the way for many applications

30-May-2022 - Scientists from Hamburg and Munich developed the world's most powerful dual-comb spectrometer that paves the way for many applications in atmospheric science and biomedical diagnostics, such as early cancer detection. The work has recently been published in Nature Communications. The core part of ...

The next phase of the proton puzzle

New milestone in frequency comb spectroscopy

30-Nov-2020 - Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) have succeeded in testing quantum electrodynamics with unprecedented accuracy to 13 decimal places. The new measurement is almost twice as accurate as all previous hydrogen measurements combined and moves science one step closer to ...

Electron spectrometer deciphers quantum mechanical effects

09-Jul-2018 - Electronic circuits are miniaturized to such an extent that quantum mechanical effects become noticeable. Using photoelectron spectrometers, solid-state physicists and material developers can discover more about such electron-based processes. Fraunhofer researchers have helped revolutionize this ...

A Keen Sense for Molecules

27-Feb-2018 - Laser physicists from the Laboratory of Attosecond Physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics have developed an extremely powerful broadband infrared light source. This light source opens up a whole new range of opportunities in medicine, life ...

A signal boost for molecular microscopy

Cavity-enhanced Raman-scattering reveals information on structure and properties of carbon nanotubes

14-Jul-2016 - Carbon nanotubes can be produced with a variety of shapes and properties and are therefore of much interest for widespread applications in fields as diverse as electronics, photonics, nanomechanics, and quantum optics. Hence it is important to have a tool at hand that allows to determine these ...

Electrons are late starters

02-Jul-2010 - When physicists search for new semiconductors for chips or lasers, they have been able to rely on sophisticated computer programs - until now. However, it is possible that the models these programs have used to predict the electronic properties of a material oversimplify reality. An international ...

"On-the-fly" spectroscopy with a diode laser and a frequency comb

MPQ scientists achieve high precision optical broadband spectroscopy by applying frequency comb technique to tunable diode lasers

04-Sep-2009 - The research field of optical spectroscopy has already attracted attention of generations of scientists, starting with Fraunhofer's discovery of dark lines in the sun spectrum in 1814 followed by the work of Kirchhoff and Bunsen in 1859 explaining these lines as absorption of light in atoms and ...