About us
At the Laser Center, we build new sources of ultra-short laser pulses and study interactions of such pulses with matter, in particular using ultra-fast time-resolved spectroscopic methods. The Laser Center is the result of many years of close collaboration between the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) and the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw. Since 2019, the Center has been managed by Dr. hab. Yuriy Stepanenko, associate professor at IPC PAS.
At the Laser Center, we use a number of advanced, unique systems for ultrafast spectroscopy. Particularly noteworthy is the Femtosecond Stimulated Raman Scattering (FSRS) system that enables Raman measurements with femtosecond temporal resolution after prior excitation of the electronic state in the sample with light pulses. In 2018, this system was expanded to allow excitation of vibrational states in the sample with femtosecond pulses in the near and medium infrared range generated in a parametric amplifier of our own design. The possibility of excitation of vibrational states in the sample in the electronic ground state, followed by broadband (200 cm-1 – 4000 cm-1) probing of the excited system using stimulated Raman scattering makes our system unique in the world.
In addition, the laboratory has a fluorescence upconversion setup for time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy with femtosecond temporal resolution. This system is mainly used to study the kinetics of light-induced chemical reactions and determine the impact of a crowded environment on such reactions.
The last of our experimental systems is a setup for femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy, with excitation in the visible range and probing in the infrared range, working with a repetition rate of 150 kHz, which significantly reduces the measurement noise.
The Laser Center is also equipped with numerous devices and accessories for characterization of short pulses of light, i.e. spectrometers, FROG and SPIDER cross- correlators, infrared detectors, oscilloscopes, as well as a wide range of devices for processing optical fibers – fiber optic welders, precision cutters and recoaters.
0000-0001-9919-4447
