Direct comparison of phase-sensitive vibrational sum frequency generation with maximum entropy method: case study of water.

We present a direct comparison of phase sensitive sum-frequency generation experiments with phase reconstruction obtained by the maximum entropy method. We show that both methods lead to the same complex spectrum. Furthermore, we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each of these methods, analyzing possible sources of experimental and analytical errors.

The orientation and charge of water at the hydrophobic oil droplet-water interface.

We established the charge and structure of the oil/water interface by combining ζ-potential measurements, sum frequency scattering (SFS) and molecular dynamics simulations. The SFS experiments show that the orientation of water molecules can be followed on the oil droplet/water interface. The average water orientation on a neat oil droplet/water interface is the same as the water orientation on a negatively charged interface.

Setup of a scanning near field infrared microscope (SNIM): imaging of sub-surface nano-structures in gallium-doped silicon.

We have realized a scanning near-field infrared microscope in the 3-4 microm wavelength range. As a light source, a tunable high power continuous wave infrared optical parametric oscillator with an output power of up to 2.9 W in the 3-4 microm range has been set up.