Research: Assoc. Prof. Vainio is the head of Laser Spectroscopy group, which develops new experimental methods and instrumentation for high-resolution molecular spectroscopy. In particular, the group focuses on mid-infrared vibrational spectrocopy and laser frequency comb spectroscopy. Examples of recent work of the group include demonstration of sub-parts-per-trillion level sensitivity in trace gas detection by photoacoustic spectroscopy, development of a fully stabilized femtosecond mid-infrared frequency comb, and discovery of a novel method for laser frequency comb generation by continuous-wave-pumped optical nonlinearities.

http://www.helsinki.fi/laser-spectroscopy

Teaching: Lecturer of courses "Molecular structrure and spectroscopy", "Laser spectroscopy", and "Laser spectrocopy instrumentation".