Advances and Emerging Opportunities in Synchrotron Infrared Nanospectroscopy

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).