IR Spectroscopy

The IRIS-beamline at BESSY is a high-performance, infrared-dedicated beamline which combines a very stable frontend for the extraction of Infrared Synchrotron Radiation with a versatile multi-station experimental area. The beamline staff carries on in-house research programs and develops new state-of-the-art instrumentation to make the advantages of Synchrotron radiation available to the users.

Why infrared synchrotron radiation?

At synchrotron light sources of the second and third generation the emitted radiation in the infrared wavelength region is some orders of magnitude brighter than standard thermal sources (e.g., globar). In addition, infrared synchrotron radiation is a low-noise and absolute source being polarized and pulsed in the picosecond timescale. With the unique characteristics of this infrared radiation source new and exciting spectroscopic experiments can be carried out.

Recently, BESSY has developed a new technique to generate steady-state Coherent Terahertz Radiation from the BESSY II electron storage ring. The Coherent Terahertz Radiation is a new powerful, pulsed, broadband source in the intriguing Terahertz gap between electronically feasible microwaves and thermal black body radiation. Furthermore, its study provides important clues for the production of ultra-short stable electron bunches.

Up and running...

The IRIS-beamline at BESSY was inaugurated in December 2001 and is fully operating. The list of publications produced at the beamline is long and diverse. The beamline is equipped with a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer (Bruker 66/v), an infrared microscope (Thermo Nicolet Continuµm and NexusTM), an infrared ellipsometer (developed at ISAS Berlin), a low-temperature reflectivity setup (in cooperation with Università di Roma La Sapienza, Italy) and a femtosecond Ti:sapphire laser (from the Max-Born-Institut) and many other experimental setups.