Techniques for optical characterization of matter

Lecture notes Ver. 1

Cristian Manzoni

July 19, 2018

Contents

1 Introduction i
Description of optical fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv
Description of optical pulses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi
The Wigner Spectrogram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x

2 Jones Calculus 1
Ellipsometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

3 Lock-in detection 17
Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

4 Interferometry 29
Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

5 Time-resolved optical techniques 53

Instrumental Response Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Effective Response Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Non-Repetitive Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

6 Excitation-resolved optical techniques 69

Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 1

Introduction
ii Introduction
Introduction iii
iv Introduction. Description of optical fields
Introduction. Description of optical fields v
vi Introduction. Description of optical pulses
Introduction. Description of optical pulses vii
viii Introduction. Description of optical pulses
Introduction. Description of optical pulses ix
x Introduction. The Wigner Spectrogram
Introduction. The Wigner Spectrogram xi
xii Introduction. The Wigner Spectrogram
Introduction. The Wigner Spectrogram xiii
xiv Introduction. The Wigner Spectrogram
Introduction. The Wigner Spectrogram xv
Chapter 2

Jones Calculus
2 Chapter 2. Jones Calculus
Chapter 2. Jones Calculus 3
4 Chapter 2. Jones Calculus
Chapter 2. Jones Calculus 5
6 Chapter 2. Jones Calculus
Chapter 2. Jones Calculus 7
8 Chapter 2. Jones Calculus
Chapter 2. Jones Calculus 9
10 Chapter 2. Jones Calculus
Chapter 2. Jones Calculus 11
12 Chapter 2. Jones Calculus
Chapter 2. Jones Calculus 13
14 Chapter 2. Jones Calculus. Ellipsometry
Chapter 2. Jones Calculus. Ellipsometry 15
16 Chapter 2. Jones Calculus. Further reading

Further reading
E. Collett, “Field Guide to Polarization”, SPIE Field Guides vol. FG05, SPIE (2005). ISBN 0-8194-
5868-6.

Dennis Goldstein, “Polarized light”, Second edition (Marcel Dekker, Inc., 2003)
Julio A.N.T. Soares, Ellipsometry, in “Chapter 2, Introduction to Optical Characterization of Ma-
terials”
R. Clark Jones, “A new calculus for the treatment of optical systems, I. Description and Discussion
of the Calculus”. Journal of the Optical Society of America 31, 488–493 (1941).
R. Clark Jones, “A new calculus for the treatment of optical systems, III The Sohncke Theory of
optical activity”. Journal of the Optical Society of America 31, 500–503 (1941)
R. Clark Jones, “A new calculus for the treatment of optical systems, IV”. Journal of the Optical
Society of America 32, 486–493 (1942).
A. L. Fymat, “Jones’s Matrix Representation of Optical Instruments. 1: Beam Splitters”. Applied
Optics. 10, 2499–2505 , (1971).
A. L. Fymat, “Jones’s Matrix Representation of Optical Instruments. 2: Fourier Interferometers
(Spectrometers and Spectropolarimeters)”. Applied Optics 10, 2711–2716 (1971).

A. L. Fymat, “Polarization Effects in Fourier Spectroscopy. I: Coherency Matrix Representation”.

Applied Optics 11, 160–173 (1972).
Chapter 3

Lock-in detection
18 Chapter 3. Lock-in detection
Chapter 3. Lock-in detection 19
20 Chapter 3. Lock-in detection
Chapter 3. Lock-in detection 21
22 Chapter 3. Lock-in detection
Chapter 3. Lock-in detection 23
24 Chapter 3. Lock-in detection
Chapter 3. Lock-in detection 25
26 Chapter 3. Lock-in detection
Chapter 3. Lock-in detection 27
28 Chapter 3. Lock-in detection. Further reading

Further reading
About the history of Lock-in aplifiers:

C. R. Cosens, “A balance-detector for alternating-current bridges”. Proceedings of the Physical

Society, 46:818 (1934).
W. C. Michels. “A Double Tube Vacuum Tube Voltmeter”, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 9:10 (1938).
W. C. Michels and N. L. Curtis. “A Pentode LockIn Amplifier of High Frequency Selectivity”. Rev.
Sci. Instrum., 12:444 (1941).

About the working principles of Lock-in amplifiers:

“Principles of lock-in detection and the state of the art”, white paper from Zurich Instruments.
“About Lock-in Amplifiers”, application note from Stanford Research
Chapter 4

Interferometry
30 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 31
32 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 33
34 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 35
36 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 37
38 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 39
40 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 41
42 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 43
44 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 45
46 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 47
48 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 49
50 Chapter 4. Interferometry
Chapter 4. Interferometry 51
52 Chapter 4. Interferometry. Further reading

Further reading
P. Hariharan, “Basics of interferometry”, Second Edition, Elsevier Inc. (2007).

Max Born, Emil Wolf, “Principles of optics ”, 7th Ed., Cambridge University Press (1999), ISBN
0-521-642221
L. Lepetit, G. Cheriaux, M. Joffre, “Linear techniques of phase measurement by femtosecond spectral
interferometry for applications in spectroscopy”. JOSA B, 12(12), 2467–2474 (1995).
Chapter 5

Time-resolved optical techniques

54 Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques
Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques 55
56 Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques
Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques 57
58 Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques
Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques 59
60 Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques. Instrumental Response Function
Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques. Instrumental Response Function 61
62 Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques. Effective Response Function
Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques. Effective Response Function 63
64 Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques. Effective Response Function
Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques. Effective Response Function 65
66 Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques. Effective Response Function
Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques. Non-Repetitive Processes 67
68 Chapter 5. Time-resolved optical techniques. Further reading

To understand in which way non-repetitive processes can be followed in the time domain, we discuss
two techniques:
1 A chirped pulse is sliced in subpulses with different arrival times, which subsequently interact with
the sample. The technique is called sequentially timed all-optical mapping photography (STAMP).
A desciption of the technique and examples of applications are shown in the following paper:

K. Nakagawa, A. Iwasaki, Y. Oishi, R. Horisaki, A. Tsukamoto, A. Nakamura, K. Hirosawa, H. Liao,

T. Ushida, K. Goda, F. Kannari, SakumaI, “Sequentially timed all-optical mapping photography
(STAMP)”, Nature Photon. 8, 695–700 (2014).
2 A modification of the previous technique, in which the slicing of the pulse occurs after the interaction
with the sample. The method is called SF-STAMP, and utilizes spectral filtering by a diffractive
optical element (DOE) and a band-pass filter. The technique is examined in detail in this paper:

T. Suzuki, F. Isa, L. Fujii, K. Hirosawa, K. Nakagawa, K. Goda, and F. Kannari, “Sequentially

timed all-optical mapping photography (STAMP) utilizing spectral filtering”, Optics express 23,
30512-30522 (2015).

Further reading
Wolfgang Demtröder, “Laser Spectroscopy 1: Basic Principles”, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
(2014) ISBN 978-3-642-53858-2, 978-3-642-53859-9 (eBook), doi 10.1007/978-3-642-53859-9
Wolfgang Demtröder, “Laser Spectroscopy 2: Experimental techniques”, Springer-Verlag Berlin Hei-
delberg (2015) ISBN 978-3-662-44640-9, 978-3-662-44641-6 (eBook), doi 10.1007/978-3-662-44641-6
Z. Vardeny and J. Tauc, “Picosecond coherence coupling in the pump and probe technique”, Opt.
Commun. 39, 396 (1981).
S.A. Kovalenko, A. L. Dobryakov, J. Ruthmann and N. P. Ernsting, “Femtosecond spectroscopy of
condensed phases with chirped supercontinuum probing”, Phys. Rev. A 59, 2369 (1999).

D. Polli, D. Brida, S. Mukamel, G. Lanzani, and G. Cerullo, “Effective temporal resolution in

pump-probe spectroscopy with strongly chirped pulses,” Phys. Rev. A 82, 53809 (2010).
L. Gao and L. V. Wang, ““A review of snapshot multidimensional optical imaging: Measuring
photon tags in parallel,” Phys. Rep. 616, 1–37, 2016.
Chapter 6

Excitation-resolved optical
techniques
70 Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques
Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques 71
72 Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques
Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques 73
74 Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques
Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques 75
76 Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques
Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques 77
78 Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques
Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques 79
80 Chapter 6. Excitation-resolved optical techniques. Further reading

Further reading
S. P. Davis, M. C. Abrams, and J. W. Brault, “Fourier Transform Spectrometry” (Academic Press,
2001).

D. Brida, C. Manzoni and G. Cerullo, “Phase-locked pulses for two-dimensional spectroscopy by a

birefringent delay line,” Optics Letters 37, 3027 (2012).
A. Perri, F. Preda, C. D’Andrea, E. Thyrhaug, G. Cerullo, D. Polli, and J. Hauer, “Excitation-
emission Fourier-transform spectroscopy based on a birefringent interferometer,” Opt. Express 25,
A483 (2017).