A closed-loop pump-driven wire-guided flow jet for ultrafast spectroscopy of liquid samples

We describe the design and provide the results of the full characterization of a closed-loop pump-driven wire-guided flow jet system. The jet has excellent optical quality with a wide range of liquids spanning from alcohol to water based solutions, including phosphate buffers used for biological samples. The thickness of the jet film varies depending on the flow rate between 90 μm and 370 μm. The liquid film is very stable, and its thickness varies only by 0.76% under optimal conditions. Measured transmitted signal reveals a long term optical stability (hours) with a RMS of 0.8%, less than the overall noise of the spectroscopy setup used in our experiments. The closed loop nature of the overall jet design has been optimized for the study of precious biological samples, in limited volumes, to remove window contributions from spectroscopic observables. This feature is particularly important for femtosecond studies in the UV range.