Deconvolution of ultrafast kinetic data with inverse filtering

Due to limitations of pulse widths in ultrafast laser or electron pulse kinetic measurements, in the case of subpicosecond characteristic times of the studied reactions, deconvolution with the pulses always distorts the kinetic signal. Here, we describe inverse filtering based on Fourier transformations to deconvolve measured ultrafast kinetic data without evoking a particular kinetic mechanism. Deconvolution methods using additional Wiener filtering or two-parameter regularization are found to give reliable results for simulated as well as experimental data.