Thermal lens technique: a new method of absorption spectroscopy

Innovative rapid liquid concentration measurement based on thermal lens effect and machine learning

This study addresses the critical need for rapid and online measurement of liquid concentrations in industrial applications. Although the thermal lens effect (TLE) is extensively explored in laser systems for determining thermal lens focal lengths, its application in quantifying solution concentrations remains underexplored. This research explores the relationship between various liquid concentrations and the interference fringes induced by the TLE. A novel approach is introduced, utilizing TLE to measure solution concentrations, with integration of image processing and discrete Fourier transform (DFT) techniques for feature extraction from interference rings. Further, machine learning, specifically backpropagation artificial neural network (BP-ANN), is employed to model concentration measurement. The model demonstrates high accuracy, evidenced by low root mean square error (RMSE) values of 3.055 and 5.396 for the training and test sets, respectively. This enables precise, real-time determination of soy sauce concentration, offering significant implications for industrial testing, environmental monitoring, and other related fields.

Stimulated Raman photothermal microscopy toward ultrasensitive chemical imaging

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy has shown enormous potential in revealing molecular structures, dynamics, and couplings in complex systems. However, the sensitivity of SRS is fundamentally limited to the millimolar level due to shot noise and the small modulation depth. To overcome this barrier, we revisit SRS from the perspective of energy deposition. The SRS process pumps molecules to their vibrationally excited states. The subsequent relaxation heats up the surroundings and induces refractive index changes. By probing the refractive index changes with a laser beam, we introduce stimulated Raman photothermal (SRP) microscopy, where a >500-fold boost of modulation depth is achieved. The versatile applications of SRP microscopy on viral particles, cells, and tissues are demonstrated. SRP microscopy opens a way to perform vibrational spectroscopic imaging with ultrahigh sensitivity.

Stimulated Raman Photothermal Microscopy towards Ultrasensitive Chemical Imaging

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy has shown enormous potential in revealing molecular structures, dynamics and coupling in a complex system. However, the bond-detection sensitivity of SRS microscopy is fundamentally limited to milli-molar level due to the shot noise and the small modulation depth in either pump or Stokes beam4. Here, to overcome this barrier, we revisit SRS from the perspective of energy deposition. The SRS process pumps molecules to their vibrational excited states. The thereafter relaxation heats up the surrounding and induces a change in refractive index. By probing the refractive index change with a continuous wave beam, we introduce stimulated Raman photothermal (SRP) microscopy, where a >500-fold boost of modulation depth is achieved on dimethyl sulfide with conserved average power. Versatile applications of SRP microscopy on viral particles, cells, and tissues are demonstrated. With much improved signal to noise ratio compared to SRS, SRP microscopy opens a new way to perform vibrational spectroscopic imaging with ultrahigh sensitivity and minimal water absorption.

Analytical Model for Pulsed-Laser Induced Mode-Mismatched Dual-Beam Thermal Lens Spectroscopy in Liquids

Analytical models are very important to understand physical, chemical, and biological phenomena. In many cases, obtaining an analytical model is a complex, even an impossible task. In this work, an analytical model for thermal lens spectroscopy has been developed. The model considers light absorbing liquids, a laser pulsed beam as the heat source, timescale thermal regime, and small phase change produced by heating. A simplification for low-absorption samples is obtained. A complete theoretical study of their utilization is shown. Measurements of the thermal diffusivity of water-ethanol sample mixtures in the liquid phase are analyzed. These values for pure substances are in good agreement with those reported in the literature. Our methodology could be very useful in the analysis of the optical and thermal properties of liquids.

Optical detection of the ultrasound-induced pulsed thermal lens close to the ice-water phase transition

Piezo-optic and thermo-optic coefficients are important material properties that play a critical role in the design and optimization of many optical devices. The ability to accurately measure and control these coefficients is essential for achieving high performance and reliability in a wide range of applications. In this article, we use the optical detection of the ultrasound-induced thermal lens effect to investigate these properties for water at low temperatures. The results show that the anomalous behavior of water around 4°C is easily observed. The thermal lens method is used to determine the temperature dependence of the piezo-optic and thermo-optic coefficients.

Far-field super-resolution chemical microscopy

Far-field chemical microscopy providing molecular electronic or vibrational fingerprint information opens a new window for the study of three-dimensional biological, material, and chemical systems. Chemical microscopy provides a nondestructive way of chemical identification without exterior labels. However, the diffraction limit of optics hindered it from discovering more details under the resolution limit. Recent development of super-resolution techniques gives enlightenment to open this door behind far-field chemical microscopy. Here, we review recent advances that have pushed the boundary of far-field chemical microscopy in terms of spatial resolution. We further highlight applications in biomedical research, material characterization, environmental study, cultural heritage conservation, and integrated chip inspection.

Thermal lens effect with light's orbital angular momentum

Thermal lens effect has been well developed and exploited for decades by using the Gaussian intensity distribution of a laser beam. In this paper, a new thermal lens effect by using a laser beam with Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) is proposed. We find that the dynamic process for the formation of the OAM-thermal lens has reda rapid change towards the evolution direction at the beginning but then slowly approaches to a steady state for a while. This phenomenon is significantly different from the traditional Gaussian-thermal lens, thus it may be used to improve the sensitivity of the absorption spectrum for the chemical and biomedical analysis. Besides, theoretically and experimentally, the factors affecting the steady state of the OAM-thermal lens are also studied, hoping these may provide a useful reference for the research community. We also find a potential slow thermal-optical gate that can control of light passing through or blocking by changing the OAM of the heating beam. Our work opens the door which utilizes the structured light beam to study the thermal-optical effect, and more interesting phenomena remain to be explored.

Time-Resolved cw Thermal Z-scan for Nanoparticles Scattering Evaluation in Liquid Suspension

The thermal lens effect is analyzed as a time-resolved Z-scan measurement using cw-single Gaussian beam configuration. The main characteristics of the measurement method are determined. We focus on the evaluation of the measurement error from statistical calculations to also check the linearity of the response and the way to extract the thermo-optical characteristics of absorbing liquids. The results are also applied to demonstrate the feasibility of absorption and scattering efficiencies determination on gold nanoparticles of 5 and 50 nm diameters.

Investigating the effects of intermolecular interactions on nonlinear optical properties of binary mixtures with high repetition rate femtosecond laser pulses

Measurements of nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of different binary mixtures having carbon disulfide (CS2) as the common component, namely CS2-acetone, CS2-cyclopentanone, CS2-toluene, and CS2-carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), are carried out by using the z-scan technique. Open-aperture z-scan (OAZS) and close-aperture z-scan (CAZS) experiments are performed to determine the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β) and nonlinear refractive index (n2) of all binary liquid mixtures at various compositions of the components by employing a pulsed, high repetition rate (HRR) femtosecond laser. Also, we were able to use the flowing liquid to measure NLO properties in the CS2-acetone binary mixture to remove the cumulative thermal effects produced due to the pulsed HRR laser light. Nonlinear refractive index (n2) values are found to be influenced by the weak dipole-induced dipole intermolecular interactions between the nonpolar CS2 and polar acetone as well as cyclopentanone of the respective binary mixtures. On the contrary n2 values are not found to be affected by the intermolecular interactions in CS2-toluene and CS2-CCl4 binary mixtures. In comparison, the nonlinear absorption coefficient (β) values are not found to be affected by the same in all different sets of binary mixtures.

Imaging approaches for monitoring three-dimensional cell and tissue culture systems

The past decade has seen an increasing demand for more complex, reproducible and physiologically relevant tissue cultures that can mimic the structural and biological features of living tissues. Monitoring the viability, development and responses of such tissues in real-time are challenging due to the complexities of cell culture physical characteristics and the environments in which these cultures need to be maintained in. Significant developments in optics, such as optical manipulation, improved detection and data analysis, have made optical imaging a preferred choice for many three-dimensional (3D) cell culture monitoring applications. The aim of this review is to discuss the challenges associated with imaging and monitoring 3D tissues and cell culture, and highlight topical label-free imaging tools that enable bioengineers and biophysicists to non-invasively characterise engineered living tissues.

Numerical Simulation of the Whole Thermal Lensing Process with Z-Scan-Based Methods Using Gaussian Beams

A general study of the diffracted far field due to thermal lens heating using Gaussian beams is presented. The numerical simulation considers the whole system, including both the optical and the thermal parameters. It is shown that the existing simplified relations found in the literature and used up to now only give the order of magnitude of the thermo-optical coefficients. More accurate, simplified formulas are derived to measure the induced thermal phase shift when working with Z-scan-based methods. Temperature estimation in absorbing media turn out to be more reliable whether using time-resolved or steady-state techniques. The extension of the calculation to the image formation in a 4f system is also addressed.

Induction and detection of pressure waves by pulsed thermal lens technique in water-ethanol mixtures

The mode-mismatched dual-beam thermal lens technique is widely applied in the characterization of optical and thermo-physical properties of solids and liquids. The technique has also been used to investigate transient acoustic waves induced by pulsed laser excitation at the nanosecond time scale. In this paper, we developed a semi-analytical model to describe the transient acoustic wave that allows a fitting procedure to get the physical properties of fluid samples. The method was used to investigate samples with different mixtures of ethanol and water, and quantitative information of piezo-optic coefficient and sound speed are evaluated for the fluid mixtures.

Nanosecond pressure transient detection of laser-induced thermal lens

We use the thermal lens technique in the nanosecond time scale to describe the acoustic wave effect in liquids and the corresponding correlation with the speed of sound in the fluid, volumetric thermal expansion, and piezo-optic coefficient. These physical properties are found to be directly correlated to the anomalous effects observed in the transients at the nanosecond time scale, where acoustic waves dominate the thermal lens signal inducing an oscillating transient. Our results suggest the application of the thermal lens to study the generation and the detection of thermo-acoustic waves in liquids, which makes this method interesting for all-optoacoustic ultrasound detection and imaging.

Linear and Nonlinear Thermal Lens Signal of the (Δν = 6) C-H Vibrational Overtone of Naphthalene in Liquid Solutions of n-Hexane

The thermal lens technique is applied to vibrational overtone spectroscopy of solutions of naphthalene (C₁₀H₈) in liquid hexane. The C-H fifth vibrational (Δν = 6) overtone spectrum of C₁₀H₈ is detected at room temperature for mole fractions from 0.08 to 19 × 10^-6 using n-C₆H₁₄ as solvent. By detecting the absorption band in a 19 ppm (parts per million) solution, the peak absorption of the signal is approximately (2.2 ± 0.3) × 10^-7cm^-1. A plot of normalized integrated intensity as a function of the mole fraction of naphthalene in solution reveals a dependence of the magnitude of the signal with the probe laser wavelength. If the wavelength of the probe laser is 568 nm, the thermal lens signal (TLS) is linear as a function of the mole fraction of the solution. When the wavelength of the probe laser is 488 nm, the TLS is nonlinear as a function of the concentration. Three different models of nonlinear absorption are discussed. A two-color absorption model that includes the simultaneous absorption of the pump and probe lasers could explain the enhanced magnitude and the nonlinear behavior of the TLS for solutions of mole fraction < 0.1%.

Phase-sensitive lock-in detection for high-contrast mid-infrared photothermal imaging with sub-diffraction limited resolution

Imaging of the phase output of a lock-in amplifier in mid-infrared photothermal vibrational microscopy is demonstrated for the first time in combination with nonlinear demodulation. In general, thermal blurring and heat transport phenomena contribute to the resolution and sensitivity of mid-infrared photothermal imaging. For heterogeneous samples with multiple absorbing features, if imaged in a spectral regime of comparable absorption with their embedding medium, it is demonstrated that differentiation with high contrast is achieved in complementary imaging of the phase signal obtained from a lock-in amplifier compared to standard imaging of the photothermal amplitude signal. Specifically, by investigating the relative contribution of the out-of-phase lock-in signal, information based on changes in the rate of heat transport can be extracted, and inhomogeneities in the thermal diffusion properties across the sample plane can be mapped with high sensitivity and sub-diffraction limited resolution. Under these imaging conditions, wavenumber regimes can be identified in which the thermal diffusion contributions are minimized and an enhancement of the spatial resolution beyond the diffraction limited spot size of the probe beam in the corresponding phase images is achieved. By combining relative diffusive phase imaging with nonlinear demodulation at the second harmonic, it is demonstrated that 1-μm-size melamine beads embedded in a thin layer of 4-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) liquid crystal can be detected with a 1.3-μm spatial full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) resolution. Thus, imaging with a resolving power that exceeds the probe diffraction limited spot size by a factor of 2.5 is presented, which paves the route towards super-resolution, label-free imaging in the mid-infrared.

Multiple bifurcations with signal enhancement in nonlinear mid-infrared thermal lens spectroscopy

We report a novel nonlinear mid-infrared vibrational spectroscopy regime where multiple bifurcations and signal enhancement are observed in the photothermal spectrum of a 6 μm-thick layer of 4-octyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (8CB) liquid crystal. For increasing pump power values, the nonlinear evolution of the photothermal spectrum is studied in 8CB samples initially in the crystalline and smectic-A phase and their non-equilibrium transitions are characterized with pump-probe thermal lens spectroscopy. The nonlinear photothermal phenomena can be explained by the nucleation of localized non-equilibrium transitions that leads to the formation of bubbles, which modify the thermal lensing behavior. Analysis of the multiple bifurcations reveals a universal critical exponent for these non-equilibrium dynamics that can be linked to mean field theory. We report for the first time simultaneous measurement of the photothermal signal amplitude and phase behavior in the nonlinear regime. Due to the signal enhancement and spectral narrowing observed, nonlinear photothermal behavior shows promise for improvement in sensitivity and signal contrast in mid-infrared, attractive for sample characterization in the mid-infrared.

Trace detection and photothermal spectral characterization by a tuneable thermal lens spectrometer with white-light excitation

In the thermal lens experimental set-up we replaced the commonly employed pump laser by a halogen lamp, combined with an interference filter, providing a tuneable, nearly monochromatic pump source over the range of wavelengths 430-710 nm. Counter-propagating pump and probe beams are used and a 1 mm path-length sample cell together with the interference filter makes an optical cavity, providing amplification of the thermal lens signal, which leads to enhancement of the measurement sensitivity, and enables detection of absorbances on the order of 5 × 10^-6. Amplified thermal lens signal allows us to replace the typical lock-in amplifier and digital oscilloscope with a silicon photodetector, Arduino, and a personal computer, offering the possibility for a compact, robust and portable device, useful for in-field absorption measurements in low concentration or weakly absorbing species. The use of a white light source for optical pumping, an interference filter for wavelength selection and direct diagnostic of the thermal lens signal increase the versatility of the instrument and simplifies substantially the experimental setup. Determination of Fe(II) concentrations at parts per billion levels was performed by the described white-light thermal lens spectrophotometer and the absorption spectrum for 50 μgL^-1 Fe(II)-1,10-phenanthroline was well reproduced with an average measurement precision of 4%. The obtained limits of detection and quantitation of Fe(II) determination at 510 nm are 3 µgL^-1 and 11 µgL^-1, respectively. The calibration curve was linear in the concentration range of LOQ-500 µgL^-1 with reproducibility between 2% and 6%, confirming that this instrument provides good spectrometric capabilities such as high sensitivity, tuneability and good reproducibility. In addition, the versatility of the instrument was demonstrated by recording the photothermal spectrum of gold nanostructured material and determination of excitation wavelength with most efficient optical to thermal energy conversion, which differs considerably (cca 100 nm) from the absorption maximum of the investigated sample.

Photothermal Determination of Absorption and Scattering Spectra of Silver Nanoparticles

This work reports on photothermal lens spectra of silver nanoparticles of different dimensions in the spectral region of 370-730 nm performed using an arc-lamp-based photothermal spectrophotometer. We show that the photothermal and extinction cross-section spectra of the samples are similar for nanoparticles of reduced dimensions where scattering effects are small. The results differ substantially for nanoparticles of a diameter larger than 30 nm for which scattering becomes relevant. We demonstrate that the photothermal spectrum corresponds to the absorption component of the particle's extinction. Photothermal spectra show a clear picture of the plasmonic peaks of the nanoparticle even in the presence of high scattering. By subtracting the photothermal component from the total extinction, we extract the scattering cross-section spectra of the nanoparticles. The technique allows determination of the absorption and scattering components of the extinction providing a better understanding of the particle's optical properties. The results agree well with the Mie approximation, which is valid for a single spherical nanoparticle. We discuss and demonstrate the application of the method to characterize particles of arbitrary shape and dimensions.

Vibrational mid-infrared photothermal spectroscopy using a fiber laser probe: asymptotic limit in signal-to-baseline contrast

We report on a mid-infrared photothermal spectroscopy system with a near-infrared fiber probe laser and a tunable quantum cascade pump laser. Photothermal spectra of a 6 μm-thick 4-octyl-4^'-cyanobiphenyl liquid crystal sample are measured with a signal-to-baseline contrast above 10³. As both the peak photothermal signal and the corresponding baseline increase linearly with probe power, the signal-to-baseline contrast converges to an asymptotic limit for a given pump power. This limit is independent of the probe power and characterizes the best contrast achievable for the system. This enables sensitive quantitative spectral characterization of linear infrared absorption features directly from photothermal spectroscopy measurements.

Mode-mismatched confocal thermal-lens microscope with collimated probe beam

We report a thermal lens microscope (TLM) based on an optimized mode-mismatched configuration. It takes advantage of the coaxial counter propagating tightly focused excitation and collimated probe beams, instead of both focused at the sample, as it is in currently known TLM setups. A simple mathematical model that takes into account the main features of the instrument is presented. The confocal detection scheme and the introduction of highly collimated probe beam allow enhancing the versatility, limit of detection (LOD), and sensitivity of the instrument. The theory is experimentally verified measuring ethanol's absorption coefficient at 532.8 nm. Additionally, the presented technique is applied for detection of ultra-trace amounts of Cr(III) in liquid solution. The achieved LOD is 1.3 ppb, which represents 20-fold enhancement compared to transmission mode spectrometric techniques and a 7.5-fold improvement compared to previously reported methods for Cr(III) based on thermal lens effect.

White light photothermal lens spectrophotometer for the determination of absorption in scattering samples

We developed a pump-probe photothermal lens spectrophotometer that uses a broadband arc-lamp and a set of interference filters to provide tunable, nearly monochromatic radiation between 370 and 730 nm as the pump light source. This light is focused onto an absorbing sample, generating a photothermal lens of millimeter dimensions. A highly collimated monochromatic probe light from a low-power He-Ne laser interrogates the generated lens, yielding a photothermal signal proportional to the absorption of light. We measure the absorption spectra of scattering dye solutions using the device. We show that the spectra are not affected by the presence of scattering, confirming that the method only measures the absorption of light that results in generation of heat. By comparing the photothermal spectra with the usual absorption spectra determined using commercial transmission spectrophotometers, we estimate the quantum yield of scattering of the sample. We discuss applications of the device for spectroscopic characterization of samples such as blood and gold nanoparticles that exhibit a complex behavior upon interaction with light.

Indirect absorption spectroscopy using quantum cascade lasers: mid-infrared refractometry and photothermal spectroscopy

We record vibrational spectra with two indirect schemes that depend on the real part of the index of refraction: mid-infrared refractometry and photothermal spectroscopy. In the former, a quantum cascade laser (QCL) spot is imaged to determine the angles of total internal reflection, which yields the absorption line via a beam profile analysis. In the photothermal measurements, a tunable QCL excites vibrational resonances of a molecular monolayer, which heats the surrounding medium and changes its refractive index. This is observed with a probe laser in the visible. Sub-monolayer sensitivities are demonstrated.

Photothermal lens spectrometry measurements in highly turbid media

We measured the photothermal lens signal in samples exhibiting high turbidity using a pump-probe scheme. We show that the photothermal lens signal properties remain nearly unchanged up to values of turbidity of 6 cm(-1) despite the signal reduction due to the decrease of excitation power associated to turbidity losses. The signal starts decreasing abruptly for values of turbidity larger than 6 cm(-1). Multiple light scattering yields a reduction of the temperature gradients, which results in a decrease of the effective signal. However, the signal-to-noise ratio remains above 50 for turbidity values of 9 cm(-1), which corresponds to a reduction of light transmission by more than four orders of magnitude. We report on the detection of the photothermal lens signal through a 2 mm layer of organic tissue with a signal-to-noise ratio of about 500. This technique appears promising for imaging applications in organic samples, which usually exhibit high turbidity for visible and near-infrared light.

Thermal lens detection device

A thermal lens detection device was developed to realize an easy-to-use, portable and sensitive detector for nonfluorescent molecules. Two laser diodes (658 nm for excitation and 785 nm for probe) were made coaxial in an optical unit and were coupled to a single-mode optical fiber. On a microfluidic chip, a small holder for the optical fiber was fixed, and micro-lenses (numerical aperture of 0.2) were also integrated inside the holder. The micro-lenses were designed to realize an adequate chromatic aberration (50 μm), which was essential for sensitive thermal lens detection. Compared with conventional thermal lens detection systems which required very laborious and accurate optical alignment with the microchannel, the new device needed just attachment-detachment of the optical fiber, which was important for practical application. The lower limit of detection was 10 nM for nickel(II) phthalocyaninetetrasulfonic acid tetrasodium salt solutions (model sample), and the absorbance was 9 × 10(-6) AU. The absolute number of molecules detected was less than 200 zmol. The coefficient of variance for 5-time attachment-detachment of the optical probe was as small as 3.6%. The technical development allowed integration of the thermal lens detection devices inside a microsystem (e.g. enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay system), and practical microsystems were realized with sensitivities several-orders higher than absorptiometry.

Development of a differential interference contrast thermal lens microscope for sensitive individual nanoparticle detection in liquid

A thermal lens microscope (TLM) with a new principle was developed to improve the detection limit of conventional TLM. The detection limit was decreased by introducing a differential interference contrast (DIC) method which realizes background-free photodetection. The new differential interference contrast thermal lens microscope (DIC-TLM) exploits phase contrast resulting from a photothermal effect instead of refraction used in conventional TLM. In order to produce high phase contrast, we fabricated a pair of DIC prisms with a large shear value of 5 microm which is in accordance with the thermal diffusion length. First, we verified the principle of DIC-TLM. The background of TLM measurement was reduced to 1/100 by differential interference, and the signal-to-background (S/B) ratio was improved by 1 order of magnitude. The signal was confirmed to originate from phase contrast, and the expansion of the shear value was effective. Furthermore, we demonstrated counting of individual gold nanoparticles (5 nm) using DIC-TLM. The particles were counted with high signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio, and the S/N ratio was improved by 1 order of magnitude. Finally, we discuss the possibility of single molecule counting in a liquid.

Molecular structure-property correlations from optical nonlinearity and thermal-relaxation dynamics

We apply ultrafast single beam Z-scan technique to measure saturation absorption coefficients and nonlinear-refraction coefficients of primary alcohols at 1560 nm. The nonlinear effects result from vibronic transitions and cubic nonlinear-refraction. To measure the pure total third-order nonlinear susceptibility, we removed thermal effects with a frequency optimized optical-chopper. Our measurements of thermal-relaxation dynamics of alcohols, from 1560 nm thermal lens pump and 780 nm probe experiments revealed faster and slower thermal-relaxation timescales, respectively, from conduction and convection. The faster timescale accurately predicts thermal-diffusivity, which decreases linearly with alcohol chain-lengths since thermal-relaxation is slower in heavier molecules. The relation between thermal-diffusivity and alcohol chain-length confirms structure-property relationship.

Continuous wave achromatic thermal lens spectroscopy

We present a mode-mismatched continuous wave (cw) achromatic thermal lens experiment in which the pump beam is focused in the presence of a collimated probe beam. This scheme presents a distinct advantage over mode-matched thermal lens experimental methods in that it considerably reduces chromatic aberrations. Further, using the proposed method, we measure the near infrared spectrum of distilled water. The results are in good agreement with previous transmission measurements.

Absorption spectra of dye solutions measured using a white light thermal lens spectrophotometer

We describe a two-beam thermal lens spectrophotometer that uses a xenon lamp as the excitation source and a low power diode pumped Nd-YAG laser as the probe light. The white light from the xenon source is filtered using a variable interference filter producing a partial monochromatic light within the spectral range 400-700 nm and with a spectral resolution of 10 nm. We measure the thermal lens spectrum of a nonfluorescent dye (Malachite Green) and show that this spectrum reproduces its absorbance spectra measured by the usual transmission method. A comparison of the thermal lens and the absorbance spectra of a fluorescent dye (Rhodamine B) reveals substantial differences. These differences can yield important applications of the device for the characterization of fluorescent materials.

Thermal Lens Spectroscopy in Liquid Argon Solutions: (Δv = 6) C−H Vibrational Overtone Absorption of Methane

A dual-beam thermal lens technique has been used to obtain the absorption spectrum of the (Deltav = 6) C-H stretch of liquid methane and methane in liquid argon solutions. The lowest concentration detected was 1 x 10(-3) (mole fraction) of CH(4) in liquid Ar with a continuous wave laser power of 20 mW. The thermal lens signal is linear with the mole fraction of methane up to 1 x 10(-2) but not for higher concentrations. Considering the system CH(4)-Ar as an ideal solution, the factors that contribute to the thermal lens signal were calculated as a function of the concentration of methane. A mechanism of energy transfer based on the gas-phase results could explain qualitatively the dependence of the magnitude of the signal on the mole fraction of methane.

Thermal lens spectrum of organic dyes using optical parametric oscillator

The wavelength dependence of thermal lens signal from organic dyes are studied using dual beam thermal lens technique. It is found that the profile of thermal lens spectrum widely differ from the conventional absorption spectrum in the case of rhodamine B unlike in the case of crystal violet. This is explained on the basis of varying contribution of nonradiative relaxations from the excited vibronic levels.

Sensitive H(2) detection by use of thermal-lens Raman spectroscopy without a tunable laser

A new nonlinear Raman spectroscopy technique for trace-gas detection was proposed and demonstrated. The technique involved the use of a thermal-lens detection scheme to monitor thermal emission from the stimulated Raman process. We termed this technique thermal-lens Raman spectroscopy, and it was combined with a novel scheme involving a nonlinear Raman spectroscopy without a tunable laser. This technique was applied to detecting trace hydrogen molecules in the atmosphere by use of a pulsed Nd:YAG laser and a continuous-wave He-Ne probe laser. A detection limit of 9 parts in 10(6) was attained.