A broadband, femtosecond transient circular dichroism (TRCD) spectrometer has been developed and tested in the wavelength range from 350 to 700 nm. The spectrometer uses a femtosecond probe white light with well-defined circular polarization. The latter is modulated by the polarization of a narrowband seed pulse. We have implemented a dual-beam probe geometry with phase-locked detection technique to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and to reduce optical artifacts. The spectrometer allows the acquisition of TRCD spectra with subpicosecond time resolution and typical noise levels of 104 absorbance units. The performance of this instrument has been demonstrated on bis(merocyanine) nanorod aggregates in tetrahydrofurane/methylcyclohexane solution. The case study confirmed that this spectrometer is effective for the investigation of chiral properties in various molecular and nanostructural systems that have transient spectra in the UV-visible spectral range.

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