Single-beam spectrally controlled two-dimensional Raman spectroscopy

Vibrational modes are often localized in certain regions of a molecule, and so the coupling between these modes is sensitive to the molecular structure. Two-dimensional vibrational spectroscopy can probe the strength of this coupling in a manner analogous to two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy, but on ultrafast timescales. Here, we demonstrate how two-dimensional Raman spectroscopy, based on fifth-order optical nonlinearity, can be performed with a single beam of shaped femtosecond optical pulses. Our spectroscopy scheme offers not only a major simplification of the conventional set-up, but also an inherent elimination of a competing nonlinear signal, which overwhelms the desired signal in other schemes and carries no coupling information.