Acquisition of Equipment for an Enhanced Multiuser Ultrafast Laser Facility for Research and Education

Suny At Buffalo, Amherst NY

Investigators

Abstract

This grant provides support for the acquisition of equipment for an enhanced multiuser ultra fast laser facility for research and education at SUNY Buffalo. These improvements will be accomplished by purchasing three system components: 1) a solid state pumping system, 2) a streak delay unit to improve temporal resolution for time resolved photoluminescence, and 3) a delay stage for the development of time-resolved differential transmission and reflection apparatus. The new equipment will enhance the existing and planned research programs in two major materials research centers at UB, as well as other research programs in the Departments of Chemistry, Physics and Electrical Engineering. It will expand the time-resolved spectroscopy studies to the near and mid-infrared range and improve the temporal resolution of photoluminescence. It will enable two color pump/probe studies of ferromagnetic semiconductors on ferromagnetic semiconductors for device applications. It will enable new contributions to the study deep UV emitters for biological and chemical detector applications as well as for quantum cascade laser structures for telecommunication applications. We expect it to enable novel studies of biological materials using two color spectroscopy. In addition to the scientific merits of this facility, the new equipment acquisition will have broader impact on education programs and the society at large. This improved facility will contribute to the training of a new class of researchers by offering hands-on experience with a top of the line turn-key ultra fast lasers facility through involvement of fellows. It will allow students with less training in high-level experimental research (including undergraduates) to become familiar with ongoing state-of-the-art research work and thus stimulate continued interest in science and engineering. We anticipate that it will reduce by a factor of 20 the current energy consumption (electrical power and cooling water). We expect it to reduce the idle time of the system. And we expect it to provide a state of the art multi-user ultra fast laser facility that will impact research and education efforts throughout our university and those of our collaborators at other institutions.