New terahertz dielectric spectroscopy for the study aqueous solutions

Abstract

We present a development of a high precision, tunable far-infrared (terahertz) frequency-domain dielectric spectrometer for studying the dynamics of biomolecules in aqueous solutions in the gigahertz-to-terahertz frequency. As a first application we report on the measurement of the absorption and refractive index for liquid water in the frequency range from 5 GHz to 1.12 THz (0.17 to 37.36 cm-1 or 0.268 to 60 mm). The system provides a coherent radiation source with a power up to 20 mW in the gigahertz-to-terahertz region. The power signal-to-noise ratio of our instrument reaches 1015 and the system achieves a spectral resolution of less than 100 Hz. The temperature of samples can be controlled precisely with an error bars of 0.02 oC from above 0 oC to 90 oC. Given these attributes, our spectrometer provides unique capabilities for the accurate measurement of even very strongly absorbing materials such as aqueous solutions.

References in corpus (2)

• High-precision gigahertz-to-terahertz spectroscopy of aqueous salt solutions as a probe of the femtosecond-to-picosecond dynamics of liquid water
• On the Theory of Dielectric Spectroscopy of Protein Solutions

Cited by in corpus (6)

• High-Precision Megahertz-to-Terahertz Dielectric Spectroscopy of Protein Collective Motions and Hydration Dynamics
• New Insights into the Dynamics of Zwitterionic Micelles and Their Hydration Waters by Gigahertz-to-Terahertz Dielectric Spectroscopy
• Interfacial Layers between Ion and Water Detected by Terahertz Spectroscopy
• Soft Phonon Mode Dynamics in Aurivillius Type Structures
• Correlation between Macroscopic and Microscopic Relaxation Dynamics of Water: Evidence for Two Liquid Forms
• On-Chip Characterization of High-Loss Liquids between 750 GHz and 1100 GHz