Sum frequency generation for surface vibrational spectroscopy

Surface vibrational spectroscopy is one of the best means for characterizing molecular adsorbates. For this reason, many techniques have been developed in the past. However, most of them suffer from poor sensitivity, low spectral and temporal resolution, and applications limited to vacuum solid interfaces. Recently, the second harmonic generation (SHG) technique was proved repeatedly to be a simple but versatile surface probe. It is highly sensitive and surface specific; it is also capable of achieving high temporal, spatial, and spectral resolution. Being an optical technique, it can be applied to any interface accessible by light. The only serious drawback is its lack of molecular selectivity. An obvious remedy is the extension of the technique to IR-visible sum frequency generation (SFG). Surface vibrational spectroscopy with submonolayer sensitivity is then possible using SFG with the help of a tunable IR laser. The authors report here an SFG measurement of the C-H stretch vibration of monolayers of molecules at air-solid and air-liquid interfaces