Ultrasensitive detection of isotopes, chemical substances and biological substances using laser wave mixing detectors

1. A method for using optical four wave mixing to detect cesium isotopes under ambient conditions, comprising:

operating an atomizer under ambient conditions without a high vacuum chamber to vaporize an analyte solution containing a sample to be measured for presence of one or more cesium isotopes;

operating a tunable diode laser to produce a laser beam tuned at a set of wavelengths within a laser frequency tuning range for interacting with the sample in the atomizer, wherein at least one wavelength in the set of wavelengths corresponds to a transition line at 11732.3 cm −1 between 6s 2 S 1/2 and 6p 2 P 3/2 states of a cesium isotope instead of a stronger ground-state transition line of a cesium isotope;

using optical components arranged to split the laser beam from the tunable diode laser into a first pump beam, a second pump beam and a probe beam in a four wave mixing configuration and to direct the probe beam and the first and second pump beams to overlap with one another at a location in the vaporized analyte solution produced by the atomizer;

using an optical detector to receive light in a selected direction of a four wave mixing signal generated at the location in the vaporized analyte solution; and

processing spectral components of a detector output of the optical detector corresponding to different wavelengths within the laser frequency tuning range to determine presence of one or more cesium isotopes in the sample based at least on a wavelength within the laser frequency tuning range corresponding to a non-ground-state transition line of a cesium isotope.

2. The method as in claim 1 , comprising:

modulating one of the first and second pump beams at a modulation frequency; and

using a lock-in amplifier to process the detector output of the optical detector to extract the four wave mixing signal at different wavelengths within the laser frequency tuning range and to reject noise.

3. The method as in claim 1 , wherein:

tuning the tunable diode laser to laser wavelengths for a cesium transition of 6s 2 S 1/2 → 2 P 3/2 at 11,732.3 cm −1 to obtain measurements of the spectral components of the detector output of the optical detector.

4. The method as in claim 1 , wherein:

the optical components are arranged to split the laser beam from the tunable diode laser into the probe beam and the first and second pump beams in a configuration for backward scattering four wave mixing.

5. A device for using optical four wave mixing to detect cesium isotopes under ambient conditions, comprising:

an atomizer that vaporizes an analyte solution containing a sample to be measured for presence of one or more cesium isotopes under ambient conditions;

a tunable diode laser that produces a laser beam tuned at a set of wavelengths within a laser frequency tuning range for interacting with the sample in the atomizer, wherein at least one wavelength in the set of wavelengths corresponds to a transition line at 11732.3 cm −1 between 6s 2 S 1/2 and 6p 2 P 3/2 states of a cesium isotope instead of a stronger ground-state transition line of a cesium isotope;

optical components arranged to split the laser beam from the tunable diode laser into a first pump beam, a second pump beam and a probe beam in a four wave mixing configuration and to direct the probe beam and the first and second pump beams to overlap with one another at a location in the vaporized analyte solution produced by the atomizer;

an optical detector that is positioned to receive light in a selected direction of a four wave mixing signal generated at the location in the vaporized analyte solution; and

a signal detection module that processes spectral components of a detector output of the optical detector corresponding to different wavelengths within the laser frequency tuning range to determine presence of one or more cesium isotopes in the sample based at least on a wavelength within the laser frequency tuning range corresponding to a non-ground-state transition line of a cesium isotope.

6. The device as in claim 5 , wherein:

the atomizer is a graphite furnace atomizer.

7. The device as in claim 5 , wherein:

the atomizer is an inductively coupled plasma atomizer.

8. The device as in claim 5 , wherein:

the signal detection module includes a computer.

9. A method for using optical four wave mixing to detect circular dichroism of a sample material, comprising:

operating a capillary cell to provide an analyte solution containing a sample material to be measured for circular dichroism;

operating a pump laser to produce a pump laser beam at a pump laser wavelength;

using optical components arranged to split the pump laser beam into a first pump beam in a first pump linear polarization and a second pump beam in a second pump linear polarization orthogonal to the first pump linear polarization in a four wave mixing configuration to overlap with each another at a location in the analyte solution at the capillary cell;

operating a probe laser to produce a probe laser beam at a probe laser wavelength different from the pump laser wavelength;

directing the probe laser beam to the location in the analyte solution at the capillary cell in a direction for the four wave mixing configuration where the probe laser beam, the overlapped first and second pump beams and a four wave mixing signal beam at the probe laser wavelength interact to convert energy from the first and second pump beams into the four wave mixing signal beam;

modulating the first pump beam in the first pump linear polarization at a modulation frequency to be alternatively in a right circularly polarized light state and a left circularly polarized light state;

using an optical detector to receive light in a selected direction of the four wave mixing signal generated at the location in the analyte solution; and

processing a detector output of the optical detector corresponding to the modulation frequency to measure different optical absorptions associated with the alternatively right circularly polarized light state and left circularly polarized light state and to determine circular dichroism of the sample material.

10. The method as in claim 9 , comprising:

coupling a microbore high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation column to the capillary cell to separate different chemical components in the analyte solution to be present in the capillary cell.

11. The method as in claim 9 , wherein:

the four wave mixing configuration is a forward scattering four wave mixing configuration.

12. A device for using optical four wave mixing to detect circular dichroism of a sample material, comprising:

a capillary cell to provide an analyte solution containing a sample material to be measured for circular dichroism;

a pump laser to produce a pump laser beam at a pump laser wavelength;

pump optical components arranged to split the pump laser beam into a first pump beam in a first pump linear polarization and a second pump beam in a second pump linear polarization orthogonal to the first pump linear polarization in a four wave mixing configuration to overlap with each another at a location in the analyte solution at the capillary cell;

a probe laser to produce a probe laser beam at a probe laser wavelength different from the pump laser wavelength;

one or more pump optical components that direct the probe laser beam to the location in the analyte solution at the capillary cell in a direction for the four wave mixing configuration where the probe laser beam, the overlapped first and second pump beams and a four wave mixing signal beam at the probe laser wavelength interact to convert energy from the first and second pump beams into the four wave mixing signal beam;

a polarization modulation unit that modulates the first pump beam in the first pump linear polarization at a modulation frequency to be alternatively in a right circularly polarized light state and a left circularly polarized light state;

an optical detector to receive light in a selected direction of the four wave mixing signal generated at the location in the analyte solution; and

a signal processing module processing a detector output of the optical detector corresponding to the modulation frequency to measure different optical absorptions associated with the alternatively right circularly polarized light state and left circularly polarized light state and to determine circular dichroism of the sample material.

13. The device as in claim 12 , comprising:

a microbore high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation column coupled to the capillary cell to separate different chemical components in the analyte solution to be present in the capillary cell.

14. A method for using optical four wave mixing to detect circular dichroism of a sample material, comprising:

operating a capillary cell to provide an analyte solution containing a sample material to be measured for circular dichroism;

operating a pump laser to produce a pump laser beam at a pump laser wavelength;

using optical components arranged to split the pump laser beam into a first pump beam in a first pump linear polarization and a second pump beam in a second pump linear polarization orthogonal to the first pump linear polarization in a four wave mixing configuration to overlap with each another at a location in the analyte solution at the capillary cell;

operating a probe laser to produce a probe laser beam at a probe laser wavelength different from the pump laser wavelength;

directing the probe laser beam to the location in the analyte solution at the capillary cell in a direction for the four wave mixing configuration where the probe laser beam, the overlapped first and second pump beams and a four wave mixing signal beam at the probe laser wavelength interact to convert energy from the first and second pump beams into the four wave mixing signal beam;

modulating the first pump beam in the first pump linear polarization at a modulation frequency to be alternatively in the first pump linear polarization and in the second pump linear polarization;

using an optical detector to receive light in a selected direction of the four wave mixing signal generated at the location in the analyte solution; and

processing a detector output of the optical detector corresponding to the modulation frequency to measure different optical absorptions associated with the alternatively the first pump linear polarization and the second pump linear polarization and to determine circular dichroism of the sample material.