Laser-based molecular fingerprinting

A team of researchers based at LMU and the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics has developed an infrared laser that can be used to identify and quantify molecules in complex mixtures with high specificity and sensitivity. The new laser system developed at LMU emits ultrashort pulses of infrared light at a repetition rate of 100 million per second. These pulses can be used to detect trace molecules in gaseous and liquid media. Source: Thorsten Naeser Researchers and regulators in many fields often need to detect and measure levels of specific substances in a sea of irrelevant molecules, and infrared light offers an ideal tool for this task. Infrared radiation is invisible to the human eye, but molecules react with mid-infrared light in ways that are extremely sensitive to their precise atomic structure. This provides a means of identifying with great specificity molecular solutes present in very low concentrations. Lasers that generate light in the mid-infrared range suitable for use in molecular sensors are therefore subject of intensive research.