The dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect in the deep ultraviolet probed by transient absorption and dispersion of diamond using a miniature beamline

TL;DR

This paper introduces a miniature beamline for ultrafast spectroscopy in the deep ultraviolet, enabling the study of the dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect in diamond through transient absorption and dispersion measurements.

Contribution

It presents a novel setup for probing deep ultraviolet ultrafast phenomena directly after generation, revealing coexistence of dynamical Franz-Keldysh and optical Kerr effects in diamond.

Findings

Observation of the dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect in diamond

Demonstration of a miniature beamline for deep UV spectroscopy

Detection of simultaneous Kerr and Franz-Keldysh effects

Abstract

The deep ultraviolet, the bandgap region of dielectrics, is not readily accessible for established methods of ultrafast spectroscopy. Here, a miniature beamline, where a tailored deep ultraviolet field is used immediately after the noncollinear generation without subsequent optical elements, is introduced for transient absorption and dispersion spectroscopy. The near-bandgap region of diamond in the presence of a few-femtosecond pump pulse is explored where the delayed dynamical Franz-Keldysh effect and the almost instantaneous optical Kerr effect coexist.