| Abstract
| - Time-resolved (TR) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic imaging provides noninvasively spatialand spectral observations of molecular dynamic processes in heterogeneous environments. The technique,however, is limited by the readout time of the imaging focal plane array detector due to a tradeoff betweenthe multichannel detection advantage and the achievable temporal resolution. We describe a generalizedimplementation of TR-FTIR spectroscopic imaging that, without affecting data quality, allows potentialmeasurements of up to 2 orders of magnitude greater in time resolution than previously reported; that is, timeresolutions of milliseconds to tenths of milliseconds are achievable for reversible dynamic processes. As anexample, molecular rotations occurring in embedded liquid crystalline microdomains are monitored with a2.5 ms time resolution allowing an accurate determination of events inherent in the reorientation and relaxationprocesses.
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