Publication

Abstract

Several free electron lasers in the world are now routinely operating in the infrared range, and some of them are accessible to public users. In this paper, the basic physical working principles of these broadly tunable and intense sources are described and their main applications in actual research are presented. We also discuss our preliminary data concerning the nonlinear optical properties in the mid-infrared of fullerenes solids and thin films observed using a photoacoustic technique and sum-frequency generation spectroscopy at the FELIX and CLIO facilities, respectively.

Author addresses

1. Laboratoire de Spectroscopie Moléculaire de Surface (LASMOS)
   Institute for Studies in Interface Science (ISIS)
   Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix (FUNDP)
   61 Rue de Bruxelles, B-5000 Namur, Belgium



2. Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Spectroscopie Electronique (LISE)
   Institute for Studies in Interface Science (ISIS)
   Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix (FUNDP)
   61 Rue de Bruxelles, B-5000 Namur, Belgium



3. Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation du Rayonnement Electromagnétique (LURE)
   Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
   Bâtiment 209D, F-91405 Orsay, France