Ultrafast Spectroscopy & Pump-Probe Labs
End-to-end photonics for pump-probe, transient absorption, 2DES, and material dynamics platforms — from femtosecond source to data acquisition.
Step 1 — Define your goal
What are you trying to achieve?
Pick the experiment closest to your project. We'll route you to the right system architecture and BOM.
Step 2 — Confirm the problem
Common project challenges
If any of these sound familiar, you're in the right place. WaveQuanta engineers have seen — and solved — every one of them.
Pump and probe arm power balance
How much energy goes to pump vs probe? Will it saturate the sample? How to align without burning?
Delay line selection
Linear stage or rotary? 1 ns, 5 ns, 10 ns travel? Encoder resolution and repeatability tradeoffs.
White-light continuum (WLC) generation
Sapphire vs CaF₂ vs YAG — which crystal? Pump energy window? Filament stability?
Detector and spectrometer pairing
Photodiode + lock-in, CCD array, sCMOS, or balanced detection? Dynamic range, read-out speed, dark noise.
Pump-probe synchronization
Chopper, AOM, or pulse picker? Timing jitter budget. How to verify time resolution at the sample.
Group delay dispersion compensation
How much GDD does the objective add? Pre-compensation with prism pair, gratings, or chirped mirrors?
When do I need an OPA?
Single-color experiments often don't. Wavelength-dependent dynamics or sub-bandgap excitation usually do.
Signal-to-noise floor
Sub-mOD ΔA needs careful chopper / lock-in / shot-noise-limited detection. Beam pointing stability matters.
Step 3 — Understand the system
Typical system architecture
Most ultrafast pump-probe setups follow this signal flow. The architecture you need depends on your time resolution, wavelength range, and detection sensitivity targets.
Yb fiber (1030 nm) for stable industrial labs, or Ti:Sapph (800 nm) for tunable / sub-50 fs research.
Modulated pump excites the sample. Chopper or AOM frequency must be synced to the lock-in / boxcar.
Probe arm passes through a sapphire / CaF₂ crystal to generate broadband white-light continuum.
Mechanical translation of the probe path = controlled time delay τ between pump and probe at the sample.
Spectrometer + array detector (CCD / sCMOS) for hyperspectral ΔA, or single-channel photodiode + lock-in for high SNR at one wavelength.
Step 4 — Pick the modules
Recommended system modules
These are the building blocks of a working pump-probe lab. Each module is a category of products — pick the right brand and grade for your project stage below.
Femtosecond Laser Source
The heart of the system. 1030 nm Yb or 800 nm Ti:Sapph, with the right power, pulse width, and rep rate for your dynamics.
- Yb (1030 nm) · stable industrial
- Ti:Sapph (800 nm) · tunable research
- CEP-stable options for 2DES
Pump Beamline
Power control + modulation + focusing for the pump arm. Determines excitation density and SNR.
- Variable attenuator / λ/2 + PBS
- Mechanical chopper or AOM
- Focusing lens / parabolic mirror
White-Light Continuum
Broadband probe generation in a non-linear crystal. Critical for transient absorption spectroscopy.
- Sapphire (450–950 nm)
- CaF₂ (350–950 nm, UV)
- YAG (500–1100 nm, NIR)
OPA / Tunable Source
When you need wavelengths your laser doesn't produce. Pump-probe with sub-bandgap or mid-IR probes.
- Yi-Laser AURORA OPA
- 240 nm – 16 µm signal/idler
- Collinear and non-collinear
Optical Delay Line
Translation stage scans the probe path length = adjusts time delay between pump and probe pulses.
- 150 mm / 300 mm / 600 mm travel
- 1 ns / 2 ns / 4 ns delay
- Encoded, sub-µm resolution
Probe Beamline + Reference
Probe attenuation, polarization control, reference split for shot-by-shot normalization.
- Reference photodiode arm
- Polarization rotation (magic angle)
- Neutral-density attenuators
Spectrometer & Detector
Hyperspectral ΔA acquisition. Choose CCD / sCMOS / InGaAs based on wavelength and SNR target.
- Princeton sCMOS for visible
- InGaAs array for NIR
- Fast-readout for kHz acquisition
Synchronization & Diagnostics
Lock-in amplifier, chopper sync, autocorrelator at sample plane to verify time resolution.
- Lock-in / boxcar electronics
- FROG / autocorrelator
- Beam stabilization
Step 5 — Match your project stage
Choose your project stage
We package the same modules into three configurations sized for where your project is today. Move up the tiers as your project moves from PhD to validation to OEM.
Research Starter
PhD project · early lab
Get a working pump-probe table for single-color experiments. Built around a mid-power Yb fs source and a manual delay stage. Validates your physics before you buy the big system.
- Yb fs laser · 1030 nm · ≤5 W
- 100 ps motorized delay stage
- Sapphire WLC module
- Single-channel detection (PD + lock-in)
- Vibration-isolated breadboard kit
BOM tier: $40k – $80k
Engineering Validation
R&D group · central lab
Production-grade ultrafast lab. Multi-color, hyperspectral, sub-mOD sensitivity. The system most groups end up needing — we recommend starting here if budget allows.
- 20 W Yb fs · sub-200 fs · CEP-stable option
- Encoded translation stage · 1 ns travel
- Multi-color WLC + collinear OPA
- 1024-pixel sCMOS spectrograph
- Active beam stabilization
- Timing jitter diagnostics
BOM tier: $150k – $400k
OEM Production
Equipment OEM · 24/7 platform
Sealed, reliable, documented. For companies building pump-probe into a commercial instrument. Long-term supply, batch consistency, and full quality documentation.
- Industrial sealed fs laser (24/7)
- Closed-loop OPA wavelength control
- Modular detection electronics
- Quality docs (CE / ISO 13485 if medical)
- Long-term supply contract
- Batch testing reports
BOM tier: $400k+ · contract pricing
Step 6 — Run the numbers
Recommended calculators
Sanity-check your design before talking to an engineer. These calculators cover the most common pump-probe sizing decisions.
Step 7 — Configure the system
Configure your setup with our engineering tools
Two ways to go from "this is what I want to do" to "this is the BOM I need". Use both — they're complementary.
Open Pump-Probe Virtual Lab
Drag your laser, OPA, delay line and detector onto a 3D breadboard. Validate the beam path, export a BOM, share a permalink.
Launch Virtual LabAsk AI to design my pump-probe setup
Describe your sample, time resolution, wavelength range. The AI Concierge proposes a system architecture, BOM, and risks — in 30 seconds.
Open AI ConciergeStep 8 — Anchor SKUs
Featured products for this application
Common picks for ultrafast pump-probe labs. These are anchor SKUs — your final BOM will pull from a wider catalog and be sized to your project tier.
Yi-Laser
HELIOS Femtosecond Laser
Yi-Laser
AURORA OPA — High Energy
Yi-Laser
HYPERION-G MPC Pulse Compressor
Princeton Instruments
Princeton sCMOS Camera
Fastlite
Dazzler Pulse Shaper
WaveQuanta
Manual Adjustable Delay Line LBODL-600
Ultrafast Innovations
Chirped Mirror — GDD Compensation
Ultrafast Innovations
800nm Chirped Mirror CM81
Step 9 — Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers to the questions our application engineers hear most often. Anything missing? Ask us in the form below.
What pulse width do I need for pump-probe?
For most condensed-matter and chemistry experiments, sub-200 fs is sufficient. If you're chasing carrier scattering in semiconductors or vibrational coherences, push to sub-50 fs. Below ~30 fs you need careful dispersion compensation everywhere — including the objective.
Single-color or multi-color pump-probe — which is right for me?
Single-color (degenerate) is the simplest setup and works well when your sample's relevant dynamics happen at the laser wavelength. Multi-color — pump at one wavelength, probe at another — is needed for sub-bandgap probing, transient absorption with a white-light continuum, or when you want to separate kinetics from spectral evolution.
When do I need an OPA?
You need an OPA when your sample's dynamics happen at a wavelength your pump laser doesn't produce. Examples: probing perovskites in the NIR, pumping organic dyes in the deep UV, or studying mid-IR vibrational dynamics. If single-color experiments give you what you need, skip the OPA — it's the most expensive optional module.
How long should my optical delay line be?
Travel range × 2 / c = max delay. A 150 mm stage gives ~1 ns. A 300 mm stage gives ~2 ns. For ultrafast carrier dynamics (ps), 100 ps is enough. For slow recombination or thermal dynamics, 1–4 ns is typical. If you need >10 ns, consider electronic delay (separate trigger) instead of optical.
Sapphire vs CaF₂ vs YAG for white-light continuum?
Sapphire: 450–950 nm, robust, the standard pick. CaF₂: extends down to 350 nm but the crystal must be moving / rotating to avoid optical damage. YAG: extends into NIR (>1100 nm). Most groups start with sapphire and add CaF₂ or YAG only if their probe needs to reach the UV or NIR.
CCD, sCMOS, or photodiode detection?
Photodiode + lock-in: highest SNR for single-wavelength measurements (sub-µOD ΔA possible). CCD spectrometer: best for hyperspectral, lowest read noise. sCMOS: similar SNR to CCD but much faster — good for kHz-rep-rate acquisition where you want shot-by-shot.
Do I need active beam stabilization?
For sub-mOD ΔA measurements over multiple-hour scans, yes. Pointing drift translates to amplitude drift on the sample. For typical proof-of-concept experiments at >1 mOD sensitivity, you can skip stabilization but should at least monitor pointing.
What's a realistic ΔA sensitivity floor?
With a well-aligned setup, single-channel detection + lock-in: ~5×10⁻⁶ ΔA. Spectrometer-based hyperspectral detection: ~10⁻⁴ ΔA per shot, ~10⁻⁵ averaged. Below that you need balanced detection or shot-noise-limited single-channel detection.
Step 10 — Engineering Review
Application Engineering Review
Tell us your application, current setup, and project context. A WaveQuanta application engineer will return initial recommendations and follow-up questions within 1 business day.
- 1 Application
- 2 Current setup
- 3 Project & purchase