Heterodyne-detected and ultrafast time-resolved second-harmonic generation for sensitive measurements of charge transfer.

In organic photovoltaics many key ultrafast processes occur at the interface between electron donor and acceptor molecules. Traditional ultrafast spectroscopies, such as pump-probe or time-resolved fluorescence, are not ideal for studying the interface because most of their signal is from the bulk material. Time-resolved second-harmonic generation (TRSHG) spectroscopy solves this problem by only generating signal from the interface. We demonstrate an optically heterodyned TRSHG to reduce the impact of stray light, enhance sensitivity, and detect the full complex signal field.