Patent ID: 7616304

Claim:
A system for providing a first electromagnetic field at a first frequency and a second electromagnetic field at a second frequency that is different than the first frequency to vibrational analysis equipment that is responsive to a difference between said first and second frequencies, said system comprising: a non-linear crystal that may be pumped at a high repetition rate to provide a picosecond pulsed signal field at a signal field frequency and a picosecond pulsed idler field at an idler field frequency as output, said signal field providing said first electromagnetic field and said idler field providing said second electromagnetic field, and wherein said pulsed signal field is collinear with said pulsed idler field upon exiting the system; tuning means for permitting the difference between said signal field frequency and said idler field frequency to be changed; and output means for providing the collinear first and second electromagnetic fields to the vibrational analysis equipment.