Seminar

The THz/Far-IR beam line at the Australian Synchrotron is a multi-disciplinary laboratory catering for a diverse research community both at national and international levels. There is as a result, a suite of instruments at the beam line to accommodate the requirements of this diverse User community. For gas-phase applications, we have room-temperature and cryogenic cells with variable path-length optics capable of achieving up to 35 m in path-length; we also have a furnace & lasers that can be used to produce short-lived radicals. Condensed-phase Users can perform transmission studies using our 77K and 6K cryostats, and there are diamond liquid-cells that can be coupled to these cryostats; condensed-phase samples can also be studied in reflection at grazing or near-normal incidence, and using a custom furnace; finally, the beam line is also equipped with an ATR system adapted to work under vacuum, and a new cryostat for reflection at grazing angle or for matrix-isolation type studies. In addition, Users have access to a 25W cw CO2 laser and a 10 Hz 480 mJ Nd:YAG laser for photolysis studies. The synchrotron THz/Far-IR light offers a signal-to-noise advantage over conventional thermal sources, and the magnitude of this advantage varies to a great degree upon the spectral range, sample size as well as the spectral resolution required by the experiment. In this presentation, the capabilities of the THz/Far-IR beamline will be presented as well as some applications undertaken at the beam line.