technological basis for further integration into process analytics and possibly portable applications.

A spectrometer is a common piece of equipment in industries and laboratories, used to investigate the molecular composition of a sample in a nondestructive way. The main drawback of today’s spectrometers is their low speed: measurement times of seconds to minutes are needed for the acquisition of a complete spectrum. However, many processes happen on timescales of microseconds, which can’t be observed with these techniques. Moreover, the analysis of large sample numbers takes long.

The IRis-F1 is a laser‐based infrared spectrometer which exploits the extraordinary sensing performance of so‐called frequency‐combs in the mid‐infrared spectral region. As a result, the IRis-F1 offers an unmatched combination of high measurement speed (microsecond time resolution) with the high brightness of a laser‐based instrument and a multi‐color output.

The high measurement speed of the IRis-F1 opens new possibilities. For example, researchers can observe the folding or conformational changes of proteins in real‐time. By this, they can learn about correct and incorrect protein folding states. With this knowledge, they can find the reason for protein folding errors and eventually cure diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. The spectrometer will moreover enable high throughput screening and the brightness of the laser source enables an analysis of strongly absorbing samples.