@phdthesis{Tuchscherer2012,
  author    = {Tuchscherer, Philip},
  title     = {A Route to Optical Spectroscopy on the Nanoscale},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-72228},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {Time-resolved optical spectroscopy has become an important tool to investigate the dynamics of quantum mechanical processes in matter. In typical applications, a first "pump" pulse excites the system under investigation from the thermal equilibrium to an excited state, and a second variable time-delayed "probe" pulse then maps the dynamics of the excited system. Although advanced nonlinear techniques have been developed to investigate, e.g., coherent quantum effects, all of these techniques are limited in their spatial resolution. The laser focus diameter has a lower bound given by Abbe's diffraction limit, which is roughly half the optical excitation wavelength—corresponding to about 400nm in the presented experiments. In the time-resolved experiments that have been suggested so far, averaging over the sample volume within this focus cannot be avoided. In this thesis, two approaches were developed to overcome the diffraction limit in optical spectroscopy and to enable the investigation of coherent processes on the nanoscale. In the first approach, analytic solutions were found to calculate optimal polarizationshaped laser pulses that provide optical near-field pump-probe pulse sequences in the vicinity of a nanostructure. These near-field pulse sequences were designed to allow excitation of a quantum system at one specific position at a certain time and probing at a different position at a later time. In the second approach, the concept of coherent two-dimensional (2D) spectroscopy, which has had great impact on the investigation of coherent quantum effects in recent years, was combined with photoemission electron microscopy, which yields a spatial resolution well below the optical diffraction limit. Using the analytic solutions, optical near fields were investigated in terms of spectroscopic applications. Near fields that are excited with polarization-shaped femtosecond laser pulses in the vicinity of appropriate nanostructures feature two properties that are especially interesting in the view of spectroscopic applications: On the one hand, control of the spatial distribution of the optical fields is achieved on the order of nanometers. On the other hand, the temporal evolution of these fields can be adjusted on the order of femtoseconds. In this thesis, solutions were found to calculate the optimal polarizationshaped laser pulses that control the near field in a general manner. The main idea to achieve this deterministic control was to disentangle the spatial and temporal near-field control. First, the spatial distribution of the optical near field was controlled by assigning the correct state of polarization for each frequency within the polarization-shaped laser pulse independently. The remaining total phase—not employed for spatial control—was then used for temporal near-field compression, which, in experimental applications, would lead to an enhancement of the nonlinear signal at the respective location. In contrast to the use of optical near fields, where pump-probe sequences themselves are localized below the diffraction limit and the detection does not have to provide the spatial resolution, a different approach was suggested in this thesis to gain spectroscopic information on the nanoscale. The new method was termed "Coherent two-dimensional (2D) nanoscopy" and transfers the concept of "conventional" coherent 2D spectroscopy to photoemission electron microscopy. The pulse sequences used for the investigation of quantum systems in this method are still limited by diffraction. However, the new key concept is to detect locally generated photoelectrons instead of optical signals. This yields a spatial resolution that is well below the optical diffraction limit. In "conventional" 2D spectroscopy a triple-pulse sequence initiates a four wave mixing process that creates a coherence. In a quantum mechanical process, this coherence is converted into a population by emission of an electric field, which is measured in the experiment. Contrarily, in the developed 2D nanoscopy, four-wave mixing is initiated by a quadruple-pulse sequence, which leaves the quantum system in an electronic population. This electronic population carries coherent information about the investigated quantum system and can be mapped with a spatial resolution down to a few nanometers given by the spatial resolution of the photoemission electron microscope. Hence, 2D nanoscopy can be considered a generalization of time-resolved photoemission experiments. In the future, it may be of similar beneficial value for the field of photoemission research as "conventional" 2D spectroscopy has proven to be for optical spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. In a first experimental implementation of coherent 2D nanoscopy coherent processes on a corrugated silver surface were measured and unexpected long coherence lifetimes could be determined.},
  subject      = {Ultrakurzzeitspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Rewitz2014,
  author    = {Rewitz, Christian},
  title     = {Far-Field Characterization and Control of Propagating Ultrashort Optical Near Fields},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-94887},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {In this work, femtosecond laser pulses are used to launch optical excitations on different nanostructures. The excitations are confined below the diffraction limit and propagate along the nanostructures. Fundamental properties of these ultrashort optical near fields are determined by characterizing the far-field emission after propagation with a setup developed for this task. Furthermore, control of the nanooptical excitations' spatial and temporal evolution is demonstrated for a designed nanostructure.},
  subject      = {Nahfeldoptik},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Kramer2017,
  author    = {Kramer, Christian},
  title     = {Investigation of Nanostructure-Induced Localized Light Phenomena Using Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-150681},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {In recent years, the interaction of light with subwavelength structures, i.e., structures that are smaller than the optical wavelength, became more and more interesting to scientific research, since it provides the opportunity to manipulate light-induced dynamics below the optical diffraction limit. Specifically designed nanomaterials can be utilized to tailor the temporal evolution of electromagnetic fields at the nanoscale. For the investigation of strongly localized processes, it is essential to resolve both their spatial and their temporal behavior. The aim of this thesis was to study and/or control the temporal evolution of three nanostructure-induced localized light phenomena by using ultrafast laser spectroscopy with high spatial resolution. In Chapter 4, the absorption of near-infrared light in thin-film a-Si:H solar cells was investigated. Using nanotextured instead of smooth interfaces for such devices leads to an increase of absorption from < 20\% to more than 50\% in the near-infrared regime. Time-resolved experiments with femtosecond laser pulses were performed to clarify the reason for this enhancement. The coherent backscattered radiation from nanotextured solar cell devices was measured as a function of the sample position and evaluated via spectral interferometry. Spatially varying resonance peaks in the recorded spectra indicated the formation of localized photonic modes within the nanotextured absorber layers. In order to identify the modes separately from each other, coherent two-dimensional (2D) nanoscopy was utilized, providing a high spatial resolution < 40 nm. In a nanoscopy measurement on a modified device with an exposed nanotextured a-Si:H absorber layer, hot-spot electron emission was observed and confirmed the presence of localized modes. Fitting the local 2D nanospectra at the hot-spot positions enabled the determination of the resonance frequencies and coherence lifetimes of the modes. The obtained lifetime values varied between 50 fs and 130 fs. Using a thermionic emission model allowed the calculation of the locally absorbed energy density and, with this, an estimation of the localization length of the photonic modes (≈1 μm). The localization could be classified by means of the estimated localization length and additional data evaluation of the backscattered spectra as strong localization ─ the so-called Anderson localization. Based on the experimental results, it was concluded that the enhanced absorption of near-infrared light in thin-film silicon solar cells with nanotextured interfaces is caused by the formation of strongly localized photonic modes within the disordered absorber layers. The incoming near-infrared light is trapped in these long-living modes until absorption occurs. In Chapter 5, a novel hybridized plasmonic device was introduced and investigated in both theory and experiment. It consists of two widely separated whispering gallery mode (WGM) nanoantennas located in an elliptical plasmonic cavity. The goal was to realize a periodic long-range energy transfer between the nanoantennas. In finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations, the device was first optimized with respect to strong coupling between the localized antenna modes and the spatially-extended cavity mode. The geometrical parameters of the antennas and the cavity were adjusted separately so that the m="0" antenna mode and the cavity mode were resonant at λ="800 nm" . A high spatial overlap of the modes was achieved by positioning the two antennas in the focal spots of the cavity, leading to a distance between the antenna centers of more than twice the resonant wavelength of the modes. The spectral response of the optimized device revealed an energy splitting of the antenna and the cavity mode into three separated hybridized eigenmodes within an energy range of about 90 meV due to strong coupling. It could be well reproduced by a simple model of three coupled Lorentzian oscillators. In the time domain, an oscillatory energy transfer between both antennas with a period of 86 fs and an energy transfer efficiency of about 7\% was observed for single-pulse excitation. For the experiments, devices with cavities and antennas of varying size were fabricated by means of focused-ion-beam (FIB) milling. Time-resolved correlation measurements were performed with high spatial and temporal resolution by using sequences of two femtosecond laser pulses for excitation and photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) for detection. Local correlation traces at antennas in resonant devices, i.e., devices with enhanced electron emission at both antenna positions, were investigated and reconstructed by means of the coupled-oscillator model. The corresponding spectral response revealed separated peaks, confirming the formation of hybridized eigenmodes due to strong coupling. In a subsequent simulation for single-pulse excitation, one back-and-forth energy transfer between both antennas with an energy transfer efficiency of about 10\% was observed. Based on the theoretical and experimental results, it was demonstrated that in the presented plasmonic device a periodic long-range energy transfer between the two nanoantennas is possible. Furthermore, the coupled-oscillator model enables one to study in depth how specific device properties impact the temporal electric-field dynamics within the device. This can be exploited to further optimize energy transfer efficiency of the device. Future applications are envisioned in ultrafast plasmonic nanocircuitry. Moreover, the presented device can be employed to realize efficient SPP-mediated strong coupling between widely separated quantum emitters. In Chapter 6, it was investigated in theory how the local optical chirality enhancement in the near field of plasmonic nanostructures can be optimized by tuning the far-field polarization of the incident light. An analytic expression was derived that enables the calculation of the optimal far-field polarizations, i.e., the two far-field polarizations which lead to the highest positive and negative local optical chirality, for any given nanostructure geometry. The two optimal far-field polarizations depend on the local optical response of the respective nanostructure and thus are functions of both the frequency ω and the position r. Their ellipticities differ only in their sign, i.e., in their direction of rotation in the time domain, and the angle between their orientations, i.e., the angle between the principal axes of their ellipses, is ±π/"2" . The handedness of optimal local optical chirality can be switched by switching between the optimal far-field polarizations. In numerical simulations, it was exemplarily shown for two specific nanostructure assemblies that the optimal local optical chirality can significantly exceed the optical chirality values of circularly polarized light in free space ─ the highest possible values in free space. The corresponding optimal far-field polarizations were different from linear and circular and varied with frequency. Using femtosecond polarization pulse shaping provides the opportunity to coherently control local optical chirality over a continuous frequency range. Furthermore, symmetry properties of nanostructures can be exploited to determine which far-field polarization is optimal. The theoretical findings can have impact on future experimental studies about local optical chirality enhancement. Tuning the far-field polarization of the incident light offers a promising tool to enhance chirally specific interactions of local electromagnetic fields with molecular and other quantum systems in the vicinity of plasmonic nanostructures. The presented approach can be utilized for applications in chiral sensing of adsorbed molecules, time-resolved chirality-sensitive spectroscopy, and chiral quantum control. In conclusion, each of the localized light phenomena that were investigated in this thesis ─ the enhanced local absorption of near-infrared light due to the formation of localized photonic modes, the periodic long-range energy transfer between two nanoantennas within an elliptical plasmonic cavity, and the optimization of local optical chirality enhancement by tuning the far-field polarization of the incident light ─ can open up new perspectives for a variety of future applications. .},
  subject      = {Ultrakurzzeitspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{KnorrRudolfNuernberger2013,
  author    = {Knorr, Johannes and Rudolf, Philipp and Nuernberger, Patrick},
  title     = {A comparative study on chirped-pulse upconversion and direct multichannel MCT detection},
  doi       = {10.1364/OE.21.030693},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-111334},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {A comparative study is carried out on two spectroscopic techniques employed to detect ultrafast absorption changes in the mid-infrared spectral range, namely direct multichannel detection via HgCdTe (MCT) photodiode arrays and the newly established technique of chirped-pulse upconversion (CPU). Whereas both methods are meanwhile individually used in a routine manner, we directly juxtapose their applicability in femtosecond pump-probe experiments based on 1 kHz shot-to-shot data acquisition. Additionally, we examine different phase-matching conditions in the CPU scheme for a given mid-infrared spectrum, thereby simultaneously detecting signals which are separated by more than 200 cm-1.},
  language  = {en}
}
@unpublished{FerschMalyRueheetal.2023,
  author    = {Fersch, Daniel and Mal{\´y}, Pavel and R{\"u}he, Jessica and Lisinetskii, Victor and Hensen, Matthias and W{\"u}rthner, Frank and Brixner, Tobias},
  title     = {Single-Molecule Ultrafast Fluorescence-Detected Pump-Probe Microscopy},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-31348},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-313485},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {We introduce fluorescence-detected pump-probe microscopy by combining a wavelength-tunable ultrafast laser with a confocal scanning fluorescence microscope, enabling access to the femtosecond time scale on the micrometer spatial scale. In addition, we obtain spectral information from Fourier transformation over excitation pulse-pair time delays. We demonstrate this new approach on a model system of a terrylene bisimide (TBI) dye embedded in a PMMA matrix and acquire the linear excitation spectrum as well as time-dependent pump-probe spectra simultaneously. We then push the technique towards single TBI molecules and analyze the statistical distribution of their excitation spectra. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ultrafast transient evolution of several individual molecules, highlighting their different behavior in contrast to the ensemble due to their individual local environment. By correlating the linear and nonlinear spectra, we assess the effect of the molecular environment on the excited-state energy.},
  subject      = {Fluoreszenz},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Draeger2020,
  author    = {Draeger, Simon},
  title     = {Rapid Two-Dimensional One-Quantum and Two-Quantum Fluorescence Spectroscopy},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-19816},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-198164},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {In den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten hat sich die koh{\"a}rente mehrdimensionale Femtosekunden- Spektroskopie zu einem leistungsstarken und vielseitigen Instrument zur Untersuchung der chemischen Dynamik einer Vielzahl von Quantensystemen entwickelt. Die Kombination von transienten Informationen, die der Anrege-Abrage-Spektroskopie entsprechen, mit Informationen zur Kopplung zwischen energetischen Zust{\"a}nden und der Systemumgebung erm{\"o}glicht einen umfassenden Einblick in atomare und molekulare Eigenschaften. Viele experimentelle 2D-Aufbauten verwenden den koh{\"a}renzdetektierten Ansatz, bei dem nichtlineare Systemantworten als koh{\"a}rente elektrische Felder emittiert und r{\"a}umlich getrennt von den Anregungspulsen detektiert werden. Als Alternative zu diesem experimentell anspruchsvollen Ansatz wurde die populationsbasierte 2D-Spektroskopie etabliert. Hier wird die koh{\"a}rente Information in den Phasen einer kollinearen Anregungspulsfolge codiert und aus inkoh{\"a}renten Signalen wie Fluoreszenz {\"u}ber Phase Cycling extrahiert. Grunds{\"a}tzlich kann durch die Verwendung von Fluoreszenz als Observable eine Sensitivit{\"a}t bis zum Einzelmolek{\"u}lniveau erreicht werden. Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Realisierung eines pulsformergest{\"u}tzten vollst{\"a}ndig kollinearen fluoreszenzdetektierten 2D-Aufbaus und die Durchf{\"u}hrung von Proof-of- Principle-Experimenten in der Fl{\"u}ssigphase. Dieser inh{\"a}rent phasenstabile und kompakte Aufbau wurde in Kapitel 3 vorgestellt. Der verwendete Pulsformer erm{\"o}glicht eine Amplituden- und Phasenmodulation von Schuss zu Schuss. Zwei verschiedene Arten von Weißlichtquellen wurden angewendet und hinsichtlich ihrer jeweiligen Vorteile f{\"u}r die 2D-Fluoreszenzspektroskopie bewertet. Eine Vielzahl von Artefaktquellen, die mit dem vorliegenden Aufbau auftreten k{\"o}nnen, wurden diskutiert und Korrekturschemata und Anweisungen zur Vermeidung dieser Artefakte bereitgestellt. In Kapitel 4 wurde der Aufbau anhand einer Vierpulssequenz mit Cresylviolett in Ethanol demonstriert. Es wurde ein detailliertes Datenerfassungs- und Datenanalyseverfahren vorgestellt, bei dem Phase Cycling zur Extraktion der nichtlinearen Beitr{\"a}ge verwendet wird. Abh{\"a}ngig vom Phase Cycling-Schema ist es m{\"o}glich, alle nichtlinearen Beitr{\"a}ge in einer einzigen Messung aufzudecken. Literaturbekannte Oszillationen von Cresylviolett w{\"a}hrend der Populationszeit konnten reproduziert werden. Aufgrund der Messung in einer Umgebung im Rotating Frame und einer 1 kHz Schuss-zu-Schuss Pulsinkrementierung war es m{\"o}glich, ein 2D-Spektrum f{\"u}r eine Populationszeit in 6 s zu erhalten. Eine Fehlerevaluierung hat gezeigt, dass eine zehnfache Mittelwertbildung (1 min) ausreicht, um eine mittlere quadratische Abweichung von < 0:05 gegen� uber einer 400-fachen Mittelwertbildung zu erhalten, was beweist, dass das verwendete Messschema gut geeignet ist. Die Realisierung des ersten experimentellen fluoreszenzdetektierten 2Q-2D-Experiments und der erste experimentelle Zugang zum theoretisch vorhergesagten 1Q-2Q-Beitrag wurden in Kapitel 5 vorgestellt. Zu diesem Zweck wurde eine Dreipulssequenz auf Cresylviolett in Ethanol angewendet und die experimentellen Ergebnisse wurden mit Simulationen eines einfachen Sechs-Level-Systems verglichen. Im Gegensatz zur koh{\"a}renzdetektierten 2Q-2D-Spektroskopie sind bei dem vorgestellten Aufbau keine nichtresonanten L{\"o}sungsmittelsignale und Streuungsbeitr{\"a}ge sichtbar und es ist kein zus{\"a}tzliches Phasing-Verfahren erforderlich. Durch eine Kombination aus Experimenten und systematischen Simulationen wurden Informationen {\"u}ber die Relaxation der L{\"o}sungsmittelh{\"u}lle und die Korrelationsenergie gewonnen. Auf der Basis von Simulationen wurden Effekte der Pfadausl{\"o}schung diskutiert, die darauf schließen lassen, dass die 1Q-2Q-2D-Spektroskopie m{\"o}glicherweise die quantitative Analyse f{\"u}r molekulare Systeme erleichtert, die eine starke nichtstrahlende Relaxation aus h{\"o}heren elektronischen Zust{\"a}nden aufweisen. Zusammenfassend ist es mit der vorgestellten Methode m{\"o}glich, alle nichtlinearen Beitr{\"a}ge mit einer schnellen Datenaufnahme und einem einfach einzurichtenden Aufbau zu erfassen. Die gezeigten Proof-of-Principle-Experimente stellen eine Erweiterung der 2D-Spektroskopie-Werkzeugpalette dar und bieten eine fundierte Grundlage f{\"u}r zuk{\"u}nftige Anwendungen wie mehrdimensionale Spektroskopie, mehrfarbige 2D-Spektroskopie oder die Kombination von simultanen Fl{\"u}ssig- und Gasphasen-2D-Experimenten.},
  subject      = {Fluoreszenzspektroskopie},
  language  = {en}
}