Time-resolved probing of laser-induced nanostructuring processes in liquids

• Maximilian Spellauge,
• David Redka,
• Mianzhen Mo,
• Changyong Song,
• Heinz Paul Huber and
• Anton Plech

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 968–1002, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.74

• . Ultrafast time-resolved probing approaches are key to revealing the transient states and pathways that govern material transformation in LSPC. Keywords: electron diffraction; laser processing in liquids; optical imaging; optical spectroscopy; pump–probe; single objects; time-resolved probing; X-ray

• and continuously evolving [26][60][61][62][63][64]. X-ray or electron diffraction techniques (Figure 2), implemented via pump–probe schemes and combined with femtosecond ultrashort pulses, have enabled the observation of ultrafast atomic-scale motions [65]. During these transitions, transient and

• offers the advantage of studying non-equilibrium phase transitions without relying on a priori models. In pump–probe imaging experiments, specimens are excited using femtosecond optical laser pulses and subsequently imaged at defined time delays to capture their dynamic responses. This method is

Insights into the electronic and atomic structures of cerium oxide-based ultrathin films and nanostructures using high-brilliance light sources

• Paola Luches and
• Federico Boscherini

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 860–871, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.65

• , was hypothesized based on optical pump–probe spectroscopy experiments [60]. These quasi-particles, which originate from the coupling between photoexcited charge and lattice distortions induced by the extra charges themselves, largely influence the transport properties of the material. A study by

• Katoch et al. investigated the dynamics of photoexcited electron and hole polarons in a cerium oxide single crystal and in a nanocrystal using FEL-based pump–probe XANES at the Ce M5 and O K edges detected in total electron yield mode [61]. The samples contained a non-negligible concentration of Ce3

• appeared mainly located close to the surface [61]. A different study performed on clean and stoichiometric cerium oxide films by pump–probe XAS at the Ce L3 edge in the XANES and EXAFS range, detected in the total fluorescence yield mode, provided proof for photoinduced polaron formation by clearly

Efficiency of single-pulse laser fragmentation of organic nutraceutical dispersions in a circular jet flow-through reactor

• Tina Friedenauer,
• Maximilian Spellauge,
• Alexander Sommereyns,
• Verena Labenski,
• Tuba Esatbeyoglu,
• Christoph Rehbock,
• Heinz P. Huber and
• Stephan Barcikowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 711–727, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.55

• of the laser fluence and more precise PPV adjustment, allowing for the use of significantly higher concentrations (because of the low liquid layer thickness) [81]. Also, to gain deeper insights into the fragmentation mechanisms of organic MPs, pump–probe microscopy imaging, as already performed for

Out-of-plane polarization induces a picosecond photoresponse in rhombohedral stacked bilayer WSe₂

• Guixian Liu,
• Yufan Wang,
• Zhoujuan Xu,
• Zhouxiaosong Zeng,
• Lanyu Huang,
• Cuihuan Ge and
• Xiao Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1362–1368, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.109

• serving as the pump and the other as the probe. The two beams focus spatially on the same point within the graphene/3R WSe2/graphene heterojunction region. The measurements are based on the conventional pump–probe method, requiring the pump power to have sufficiently high power to saturate the sample [40

Laser synthesis of nanoparticles in organic solvents – products, reactions, and perspectives

• Theo Fromme,
• Sven Reichenberger,
• Katharine M. Tibbetts and
• Stephan Barcikowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 638–663, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.54

Dual-heterodyne Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Fatima Husainy,
• Dmitry Aldakov and
• Cyril Aumaître

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 1068–1084, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.88

• illumination chain. This is for instance the case of intensity-modulated KPFM [7][8][9], pump-probe KPFM [4][10][11], or G-mode KPFM [12], to name a few (we refer the readers to review articles for a more comprehensive introduction to AFM-based time-resolved potentiometric and electrostatic modes [13][14

• quantitative measurements can be performed by pump-probe KPFM (pp-KPFM), with a time-resolution down to the sub-nanosecond scale [10]. However, pp-KPFM features a severely limited bandwidth. In the case of our last implementation of pp-KPFM [4], several tens of seconds (to minutes) are needed to record a

• characterize the surface photovoltage dynamics are acquired on a photovoltaic organic bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) thin film. The time-constant values are shown to be fully consistent with the results of pump-probe KPFM. Last, the ability of DHe-KPFM to detect weak SPV signals is illustrated by investigating

Plasmonic nanotechnology for photothermal applications – an evaluation

• A. R. Indhu,
• L. Keerthana and
• Gnanaprakash Dharmalingam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 380–419, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.33

• through pump–probe laser spectroscopy [83]. From the slope of this transient reflectivity curve, the coupling constant is arrived at, from which the lattice temperature is calculated through the two-temperature model by means of two coupled diffusion equations, where Te and Tl are, respectively, the

Comparing the performance of single and multifrequency Kelvin probe force microscopy techniques in air and water

• Jason I. Kilpatrick,
• Emrullah Kargin and
• Brian J. Rodriguez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 922–943, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.82

• paper, including pump-probe KPFM [13][20][43], time-resolved KPFM [11][12][44][45][46][47], fast free force recovery KPFM (G-Mode) [14][48][49][50], intermodulation electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) [42][51], and PeakForce tapping KPFM [52]. The fundamental detection sensitivity to electrostatic

Ultrafast signatures of magnetic inhomogeneity in Pd_1−xFe_x (x ≤ 0.08) epitaxial thin films

• Andrey V. Petrov,
• Sergey I. Nikitin,
• Lenar R. Tagirov,
• Amir I. Gumarov,
• Igor V. Yanilkin and
• Roman V. Yusupov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 836–844, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.74

• out in a pump–probe arrangement with a Legend-USP regenerative amplifier from COHERENT used as a light sourse in a similar way as described in [37]. The pulse repetition rate was 970 Hz, the central wavelength was 800 nm, and the duration was 40 fs. Excitation of the samples was performed by the pump

Open-loop amplitude-modulation Kelvin probe force microscopy operated in single-pass PeakForce tapping mode

• Gheorghe Stan and
• Pradeep Namboodiri

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 1115–1126, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.83

• microscopy [29][30], pump–probe KPFM [31][32], or fast free force recovery KPFM [33] that are capable of observing the dynamics of the optoelectronic response of materials and electric field-induced charge migration at time scales of the order of tens of microseconds. Various OL KPFM implementations with

Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy of rubrene on clean and graphene-covered metal surfaces

• Karl Rothe,
• Alexander Mehler,
• Nicolas Néel and
• Jörg Kröger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1157–1167, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.100

• this peak to the LUMO or LUMO+1. Much wider unoccupied molecular resonances have been observed, too, in pump–probe photoemission experiments on thin C42H28 films adsorbed on highly oriented pyrolithic graphite and traced to the elevated molecule–substrate hybridization with a concomitant reduced

Implementation of data-cube pump–probe KPFM on organic solar cells

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Olivier Bardagot and
• Renaud Demadrille

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 323–337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.24

• Benjamin Grevin Olivier Bardagot Renaud Demadrille Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA, IRIG-SyMMES, 38000 Grenoble, France 10.3762/bjnano.11.24 Abstract An implementation of pump–probe Kelvin probe force microscopy (pp-KPFM) is reported that enables recording the time-resolved surface potential in

• ); organic photovoltaics; photocarrier dynamics; pump–probe configuration; time-resolved measurements; Introduction Many emerging photovoltaic technologies rely on the use of thin film materials displaying structural and/or chemical heterogeneities at the μm or nm scale. This is the case for solution

• motion stops and the charge recombination balances the photogeneration. At this stage, the electrostatic landscape probed by KPFM reaches an equilibrium state. Pump–probe Kelvin probe force microscopy (pp-KPFM) is a promising alternative to IM-KPFM. It is a priori not prone to capacitive artefacts, and

Review of time-resolved non-contact electrostatic force microscopy techniques with applications to ionic transport measurements

• Aaron Mascaro,
• Yoichi Miyahara,
• Tyler Enright,
• Omur E. Dagdeviren and
• Peter Grütter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 617–633, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.62

• -domain EFM to measure ionic transport [7][12], time-resolved electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM) to measure ionic transport [8][13], various time-resolved Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) techniques that utilize either optical pump-probe or advanced signal processing to measure time-resolved

• implementations and analyses, we have restricted our review to exclude all pump–probe and KPFM techniques as these are generally unsuitable for probing ionic transport. For a recent review of all KPFM and related techniques, we refer the reader to [21]. We begin by describing the direct time-domain method and its

• using careful instrumentation and signal analysis. The basic concept is to detect (using a slow detector) the change in average response of the sample due to a change in the frequency (or, e.g., repetition rate or delay time) of an excitation signal. This is also the basis for pump–probe spectroscopy

Time-resolved universal temperature measurements using NaYF₄:Er³⁺,Yb³⁺ upconverting nanoparticles in an electrospray jet

• Kristina Shrestha,
• Arwa A. Alaulamie,
• Ali Rafiei Miandashti and
• Hugh H. Richardson

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2916–2924, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.270

• ][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27], phase transitions [28][29], quantum dot luminescence thermometry [30], and ultrafast pump–probe measurements [31][32][33][34]. An optical temperature measurement has the advantage of remote sensing but is diffraction-limited with the spatial uncertainty

Enhancement of X-ray emission from nanocolloidal gold suspensions under double-pulse excitation

• Wei-Hung Hsu,
• Frances Camille P. Masim,
• Armandas Balčytis,
• Hsin-Hui Huang,
• Tetsu Yonezawa,
• Aleksandr A. Kuchmizhak,
• Saulius Juodkazis and
• Koji Hatanaka

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2609–2617, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.242

• especially in aqueous solution. Recently, it was reported that fs-double-pulsed excitation (including pump–probe type experiments) with dielectrics amplifies optical emission [24]. This double-pulsed excitation is considered to be another way to efficiently augment the X-ray intensity [25]. A significant

• -temperature plasma as X-ray emitter is the key challenge. The most efficient energy deposition takes place in the ENZ regions. This is consistent with a high-energy plasma driven by a resonant absorption at near-critical plasma density regions [3][4][29][30]. The pump–probe concept leads to the evolution of a

• a distilled water flow in air under double-pulse excitation [16] were independently reported. A simultaneous emission of X-ray and terahertz wave radiation is highly expected for novel pump–probe experiments [55]. The knowledge obtained in this paper will contribute to further advancements in this

Absence of free carriers in silicon nanocrystals grown from phosphorus- and boron-doped silicon-rich oxide and oxynitride

• Daniel Hiller,
• Julian López-Vidrier,
• Keita Nomoto,
• Michael Wahl,
• Wolfgang Bock,
• Tomáš Chlouba,
• František Trojánek,
• Sebastian Gutsch,
• Margit Zacharias,
• Dirk König,
• Petr Malý and
• Michael Kopnarski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1501–1511, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.141

• predominantly the largest NCs in each sample. A slight PL-blueshift is observed, not a redshift as expected from NC-doping. Transient transmission (TT) dynamics from pump-probe measurements at room temperature of ≈4.5 nm Si NCs from (a) SRON:P and P-free SRON and (b) SRO:B and respective B-free SRO. All samples

Artifacts in time-resolved Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Sascha Sadewasser,
• Nicoleta Nicoara and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1272–1281, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.119

• various groups for the characterization of organic devices [23][24][25][26] and, by using bias modulation (BM) KPFM, also for the measurement of the minority carrier lifetime in epitaxial Si solar cell materials [27]. In a variation of the bias or light modulation approach, a bias-based pump–probe

Field-controlled ultrafast magnetization dynamics in two-dimensional nanoscale ferromagnetic antidot arrays

• Anulekha De,
• Sucheta Mondal,
• Sourav Sahoo,
• Saswati Barman,
• Yoshichika Otani,
• Rajib Kumar Mitra and
• Anjan Barman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1123–1134, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.104

• microscope based upon a two-colour collinear pump–probe setup [33][34]. The second harmonic (λ = 400 nm, pulse width ≈100 fs) of a Ti:sapphire laser was used to pump the samples, while the time-delayed fundamental (λ = 800 nm, pulse width ≈80 fs) laser beam was used to probe the dynamics by measuring the

• unexposed resist pattern to create the triangular antidots. Measurement A custom-built all-optical time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TRMOKE) microscope based on a two-colour collinear optical pump–probe geometry has been employed to measure the ultrafast magnetization dynamics of the antidot

Electric field induced structural colour tuning of a silver/titanium dioxide nanoparticle one-dimensional photonic crystal

• Eduardo Aluicio-Sarduy,
• Simone Callegari,
• Diana Gisell Figueroa del Valle,
• Andrea Desii,
• Ilka Kriegel and
• Francesco Scotognella

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1404–1410, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.131

• want to emphasize the fundamentally different nature of the two resonances observed in our device, namely the plasmonic resonance of the silver nanoparticle layer and that of the photonic bandgap. The pump–probe measurement in Figure 3a shows the transmission spectra of the transient absorption

• substrate, was covered with another ITO substrate in order to apply an electric field. To apply an electric field, we employed a simple voltage supply with a 100× amplifier. The transmission spectra were collected with a Shimazdu spectrophotometer. Pump–probe experiment For this experiment, an amplified

• /titanium dioxide bilayers. Transmission spectra of the ITO–(Ag nanoparticle/TiO2 nanoparticle)5–ITO photonic crystal device upon application of an electric field. (a) Pump–probe spectra at different time delays and (b) pump–probe dynamic at 450 nm of the ITO–(Ag nanoparticle/TiO2 nanoparticle)5–ITO

Donor–acceptor graphene-based hybrid materials facilitating photo-induced electron-transfer reactions

• Anastasios Stergiou,
• Georgia Pagona and
• Nikos Tagmatarchis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1580–1589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.170

• Pc–graphene and evaluation of the species by pump-probe femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy revealed the formation of the radical anion of graphene through a broad band in the NIR region. Based on multi-wavelength analysis, a short-lived and a long-lived component with lifetimes of 3.3 and

Observation and analysis of structural changes in fused silica by continuous irradiation with femtosecond laser light having an energy density below the laser-induced damage threshold

• Wataru Nomura,
• Tadashi Kawazoe,
• Takashi Yatsui,
• Makoto Naruse and
• Motoichi Ohtsu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1334–1340, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.146

• decreased as the surface roughness increased. In addition, we found that the reflected light spectrum changed as degradation proceeded. We analyzed the details of the degradation by measuring instantaneous reflectance changes with a pump–probe method; we observed an increase in the generation probability of

• laser-induced degradation proceeded. Section 2 in Results and Discussion describes the measurement of instantaneous reflectance changes using a pump–probe method carried out to analyze the details of these spectral changes. From an increase in photo-generated carriers and the power spectrum of their

• side as the degradation proceeded. We estimated the origin of the 2nd peaks were Raman signals of degraded silica and this result represented the compositional changes in the molecular proceeds with the laser-induced degradation proceeded. 2 Analysis of degradation via pump–probe method 2.1 Time

Probing the plasmonic near-field by one- and two-photon excited surface enhanced Raman scattering

• Katrin Kneipp and
• Harald Kneipp

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 834–842, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.94

• excitation and/or fluorescence exist as main source for the population of excited vibrational states. This has been confirmed by time resolved pump–probe anti-Stokes SERS studies on rhodamine 6G on silver nanostructures with an excitation wavelength of 633 nm [40]. These experiments identified a rise time of

k-space imaging of the eigenmodes of sharp gold tapers for scanning near-field optical microscopy

• Martin Esmann,
• Simon F. Becker,
• Bernard B. da Cunha,
• Jens H. Brauer,
• Ralf Vogelgesang,
• Petra Groß and
• Christoph Lienau

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 603–610, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.67

• several tens of microns on the surface of a gold taper [11]. These results have been confirmed by three-dimensional finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations [11]. These theoretical investigations and experimental demonstrations suggest that pump–probe studies employing adiabatic nanofocusing are

• at the taper apex. We think that this is an important step toward ultrafast pump–probe spectroscopy on the nanoscale. Specifically, we show that we can differentiate between the zeroth and first order mode, which is generally difficult when using conventional far field imaging techniques. Eigenmodes

Femtosecond-resolved ablation dynamics of Si in the near field of a small dielectric particle

• Paul Kühler,
• Daniel Puerto,
• Mario Mosbacher,
• Paul Leiderer,
• Francisco Javier Garcia de Abajo,
• Jan Siegel and
• Javier Solis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 501–509, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.59

• irradiating the samples and acquiring the fs-resolved surface reflectivity images. The pump-probe microscope uses a single 120 fs pump pulse at 800 nm, which was selected by using an electro-mechanical shutter. The pump beam (s-polarized) is focused at an angle of incidence of 54° onto the sample surface to a

Femtosecond time-resolved photodissociation dynamics of methyl halide molecules on ultrathin gold films

• Mihai E. Vaida,
• Robert Tchitnga and
• Thorsten M. Bernhardt

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 618–627, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.65

• chloride, adsorbed on a metal surface was investigated in real time by means of femtosecond-laser pump–probe mass spectrometry. A weakly interacting gold surface was employed as substrate because the intact adsorption of the methyl halide molecules was desired prior to photoexcitation. The gold surface was

• . However, neither photodissociation products nor the parent molecule were detected, independent on the pump–probe delay time. Similar results were reported by White and coworkers for methyl iodide adsorbed on Pt(111) [28][29][30][31]. In their work, methyl iodide molecules that were adsorbed on the metal

• cation signal intensity as a function of the pump–probe delay. The result is shown in Figure 5. The CD3+ transient signal consists of a peak structure with a maximum at 50 fs. The interpretation of this transient is based on earlier experiments with methyl iodide on an insulating magnesia surface and on