Edge effects in chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectra

Abstract

Recent applications of chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave and millimeter wave spectroscopy have motivated the use of short (10–50 ns) chirped excitation pulses. In this regime, individual transitions within the chirped pulse bandwidth do not all, in effect, experience the same frequency sweep through resonance from far above to far below (or vice versa), and “edge effects” may dominate the relative intensities. We analyze this effect and provide simplifying expressions for the linear fast passage polarization response in the limit of long and short excitation pulses. In the long pulse limit, the polarization response converges to a rectangular function of frequency, and in the short pulse limit, the polarization response morphs into a form proportional to the window function of the Fourier-transform-limited excitation pulse.