Richard A. Mathies is a chemist whose research develops laser-based measurements of molecular reaction dynamics. His Berkeley profile describes work using Raman spectroscopy and femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy to connect changing vibrational spectra with changing molecular structure.[ref]
With David W. McCamant and Philipp Kukura, Richard A. Mathies coauthored the2003 broadband stimulated-Raman method. Its instrumentation combines a spectrally narrow Raman pump with a short broadband probe, so spectral selectivity and rapid probing are assigned different roles in the experiment.[ref]
An original gain example explains what the detector comparison measures. At one probe wavelength, a properly corrected pump-on signal103 and pump-off signal100 give a ratio1.03, or a3% increase. If both readings also contain an unremoved detector offset20, the raw ratio123/120 is only1.025. Background subtraction and normalization belong in the measurement model; a small spectral feature cannot be interpreted independently of them. The primary method uses dark-corrected, reference-normalized gain measurements.[ref]
The scientific contribution is both instrumental and interpretive: obtaining rapid vibrational information requires controlled pulses, detection and a model connecting the optical response to the reacting molecules.
Richard A. Mathies, portrait identified by his Berkeley profile
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