title: 100-kHz shot-to-shot broadband data acquisition for high-repetition-rate pump-probe spectroscopy.
abstract: Shot-to-shot broadband detection is common in ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy. Taking advantage of the intensity correlation of subsequent laser pulses improves the signal-to-noise ratio. Finite data readout times of CCD chips in the employed spectrometer and the maximum available speed of mechanical pump-beam choppers typically limit this approach to lasers with repetition rates of a few kHz. For high-repetition (≥ 100 kHz) systems, one typically averages over a larger number of laser shots leading to inferior signal-to-noise ratios or longer measurement times. Here we demonstrate broadband shot-to-shot detection in transient absorption spectroscopy with a 100-kHz femtosecond laser system. This is made possible using a home-built high-speed chopper with external laser synchronization and a fast CCD line camera. Shot-to-shot detection can reduce the data acquisition time by two orders of magnitude compared to few-kHz lasers while keeping the same signal-to-noise ratio.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kanal
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keiber
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Eck
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brixner