Picosecond spectrochronography

The general problem of extracting complete (amplitude and phase) information out of an optical signal is discussed. We have shown that the best one can do to determine all essential features of light pulses is to apply simultaneous temporal and spectral analysis to take spectrochronograms with the appropriate shape of the resolution cell on the -plane. We use the term "spectrochronogram" instead of the much broader term "time-resolved spectrum" for a specific measurement result where the resolutions and used are transform correlated. A novel subtractive mount of monochromators has been proposed to overcome the obstacles to experimental realization of uncertainty-principle-limited setups for high spectral resolution picosecond spectrochronography. For the examples of perylene and anthracene molecules, experimental spectrochronograms revealing temporal behavior of hot luminescence lines and, correspondingly, picosecond kinetics of intramolecular vibrational relaxation have been presented. Some further applications of picosecond spectrochronography have been discussed.