High-speed femtosecond pump probe spectroscopy with a smart pixel detector array

A new femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy technique is demonstrated that permits the high-speed, parallel acquisition of pump-probe measurements at multiple wavelengths. This is made possible by use of a novel, two-dimensional smart pixel detector array that performs amplitude demodulation in real time on each pixel. This detector array can not only achieve sensitivities comparable with lock-in amplification but also simultaneously performs demodulation of probe transmission signals at multiple wavelengths, thus permitting rapid time- and wavelength-resolved femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy. Measurements on a thin sample of bulk GaAs are performed across 58 simultaneous wavelengths. Differential probe transmission changes as small as similar to2 X 10(-4) can be measured over a 5-ps delay scan in only similar to3 min. This technology can be applied to a wide range of pump-probe measurements in condensed matter, chemistry, and biology. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.