Development of the pulse radiolysis system with a supercontinuum radiation using photonic crystal fiber

In usage of radiation, it is important to study the process of chemical effects of ionizing radiation in a material. Pulse radiolysis is a method to trace these rapid initial chemical reactions by ionizing radiation. As a pump beam, we are using about 4 MeV electron beam. In nanosecond timescale pulse radiolysis, it is required the stable probe light of a broad spectra. And especially in picosecond timescale pulse radiolysis, probe light should have short pulse width to use stroboscopic method. Therefore, in order to develop a unified timescale experimental system, we developed Supercontinuum (SC) light as a probe light, which is generated by nonlinear optical process of short pulse IR laser in photonic crystal fiber (PCF). To apply SC light as a probe light of pulse radiolysis, we measured its properties. We tried to measure the absorption spectra of hydrated electron by SC light. Then we successfully observed good signal-noise ratio data both in nanosecond and in picosecond experiment with the same system. In a further attempt, we succeeded to improve stability of SC light.