Exploring the nanoworld with terahertz and infrared laser spectrometers and chemical nanoscopes

Research on biomolecules, proteins, and living cells requires extremely sensitive spectrometers to harvest the response from precious, small quantity samples. Exploring the large biological parameter space of different mutations, concentrations, pH-values and temperatures demands fast data acquisition and high signal-to-noise ratios for satisfying statistics. We developed terahertz and infrared spectrometers to facilitate the study of biological samples. A chemical nanoscope combines near-field methods with in-group developments of infrared tunable lasers accessing volumes of 10^-20 liter in the fingerprint region. We explored THz quantum cascade lasers and THz video rate imaging based on amorphous silicon micro-bolometers to combine spectral and spatial resolution.