Mid infrared pulse shaping by optical parametric amplification and its application to optical free induction decay measurement

We produce microjoule energy shaped mid infrared (MIR) pulses in an optical parametric amplification (OPA) process by imposing the phase and amplitude profile of an arbitrarily shaped pump pulse onto the idler pulse. Using phase locked pulses created using this technique, we measure for the first time, complex optical free induction decay (OFID) of the vibrational coherence of a C-H stretching mode. (C) 2003 Optical Society of America.