Quantum Cascade Laser-Sourced IR Spectrometer for Time Resolved Spectroscopy and Advanced Imaging at the Canadian Light Source

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NSERC Research Tools and Instruments funding will be used to help acquire an advanced infrared spectrometer that will be housed and operated at Canada’s only synchrotron facility, the Canadian Light Source (CLS). The existing mid-infrared beamline at the CLS is an established centre of infrared expertise and has provided the Canadian scientific community with a source of high brightness infrared light for more than 10 years. The beamline presently supports the multidisciplinary research programs of more than one hundred users from across Canada but requires renewed investment in its core infrastructure to maintain its current level of excellence. This proposal aims to equip the beamline with a quantum cascade laser sourced spectrometer that will drive new scientific advances using infrared spectroscopy and imaging. The instrument will provide facile, microsecond resolved spectroscopy capabilities and be a source for wide field of view infrared imaging. Housed at a national science facility, the instrument will be available to users from across Canada and the world who wish to study a broad range of materials and biological systems using unique tools that are not available in conventional chemistry, physics and biology laboratories. The spectrometer provides two critical advantages over existing infrastructure at the CLS mid-infrared beamline; 1) a source that is four orders of magnitude brighter than synchrotron infrared radiation and 2) the means to rapidly acquire high quality time resolved spectra. The requested infrastructure is highly complementary with a broad-band synchrotron infrared source and will help pivot the beamline to a position where it can offer scientific solutions for a greater range of applications. The requested instrument allows access to a scientific tool designed to study problems where high powered lasers outperform synchrotron light. Diversifying the beamline capabilities will catalyze further infrastructure investment in the beamline, the CLS, and the Canadian infrared user community.