Advances and Emerging Opportunities in Synchrotron Infrared Nanospectroscopy

ORAL

Abstract

Synchrotron infrared nanospectroscopy provides nanoscopic access (~10 nm spatial resolution) to fundamental material excitations in the broad infrared and terahertz (THz) frequency range from 5-242 THz (175-8000 cm‑1, 22-1000 meV). E.g., this enables nanospectroscopy of polar domain walls in multiferroics [1] and unique studies of polaritons in van der Waals materials [2,3]. Going beyond conventional infrared nanospectroscopy, we introduce a novel synchrotron-based technique, Synchrotron SpaceTimE Mapping (SYSTEM), which captures real-time evolution of polariton wave packets with ~10nm spatial and sub-100fs temporal resolution [4]. Finally, we will discuss opportunities for performing infrared nanospectroscopy in high magnetic fields [5–8], a capability that is currently being developed for the future infrared cryogenic nanospectroscopy beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II).



The infrared nanospectroscopy setup at the 22IR2/MET beamline of NSLS-II is available for general use. Application for beamtime: https://www.bnl.gov/nsls2/userguide/



[1] A. M. Sargent et al., J. Appl. Phys. 138, 055302 (2025).

[2] L. Wehmeier, S.-J. Yu et al., Adv. Mater. 36, 2401349 (2024).

[3] R. A. Vitalone et al., ACS Nano 18, 29648 (2024).

[4] L. Wehmeier et al., under review (2025).

[5] L. Wehmeier et al., Sci. Adv. 10, eadp3487 (2024).

[6] R. Jing, B. Zhou et al., Phys. Rev. X 15, 031027 (2025).

[7] B. Zhou et al., ACS Photonics 12, 3082 (2025).

[8] R. A. Mayer et al., Nano Lett. 25, 13079 (2025).

*Research on near-field studies of low dimensional materials is supported as part of Programmable Quantum Materials (Pro-QM), an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), under award DE-SC0019443. Near-field instrument construction at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) was funded by the DOE Office of Science, National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA) under award DE-SC0012704. This research used the 22IR2/MET beamline of NSLS-II, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by BNL under award DE-SC0012704.

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Presenters

  • Lukas Wehmeier

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)
    • NSLS II, Brookhaven National Laboratory

Authors

  • Lukas Wehmeier

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)
    • NSLS II, Brookhaven National Laboratory

  • Mengkun Liu

    • Stony Brook University (SUNY)
    • Stony Brook University

  • Steven L Hulbert

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)

  • Christopher Homes

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL)
    • NSLS II, Brookhaven National Laboratory

  • Dimitri Basov

    • Columbia University

  • G.Lawrence Carr

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory
    • NSLS II, Brookhaven National Laboratory