MRI: Acquisition of a High-Power Narrow-Band Tunable Laser System for Use in Physics Research

Bates College, Lewiston ME

Investigators

Abstract

This award supports the purchase of a Coherent MBR-110 titanium:sapphire(Ti:S) continuous-wave laser, with accompanying pump laser, optical table, and diagnostic equipment, for use in ultracold atomic physics, quantum information science with diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers, and injection dynamics of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. Prof. Lundblad will use ultracold atoms loaded from a Bose-Einstein condensate into an optical lattice to explore systems which simulate or behave analogously to poorly-understood condensed-matter systems, e.g. those involved with high-Tc superconductivity and quantum magnetism. Building on previous experience with double-well lattices and spin-dependent lattices, he will explore strongly-correlated many-body physics in lattices of nonstandard geometry and topology: the triangle and honeycomb lattices, and radiofrequency-dressed lattices with ring-like single-site wavefunctions. Prof. Childress will study the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect center in diamond as a leading system for quantum information science. In particular, the NV spin degree of freedom is a versatile single spin system readily prepared, controlled, and detected with optical and microwave excitation. She will use stimulated-emission depletion (STED) techniques for subwavelength imaging methods in a homebuilt confocal apparatus, exploiting the natural advantages of STED used with individual NV centers. The research also centers on an improved understanding of NV spin dynamics under conditions necessary for STED-based imaging. Prof. Lin will use the equipment to study injection dynamics in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), specifically aiming to understand the nonlinear dynamics of optical injection in the multimode regime, with an eye towards applications in chaos-based secure communication via VCSEL synchronization. The particular features of the Ti:S laser system - multiwatt power, 300nm tuning capability, and sub-100-kHz spectral purity - enables all of the investigators' research goals. The acquisition of the Ti:S laser system has a broad impact on undergraduate research and education at Bates as well as on local, state, and national research infrastructure. Undergraduate research is a core component of the science curriculum at Bates, experienced through independent study, summer research apprenticeships, and a required senior thesis project. These research experiences are crucial to Bates' role in sending a disproportionately large number of students into postgraduate study in the sciences - the pipeline that provides the trained individuals necessary for technological and economic development. In addition to the three investigators named in this proposal, the requested laser system will be used by six to twelve undergraduate researchers each year, and potentially by more via curricular use. The laser system is important to the research activity of the faculty involved, resulting in increased scholarly activity, collaboration with other institutions, and statewide and national exposure of scientific work being performed at Bates. The institutional commitment to research at Bates in combination with extramural funding allow Bates faculty to operate at a high level of scholarly activity, and the on-site presence of state-of-the-art instrumentation ensures that this activity will continue unabated. The equipment thus impacts Bates students (many of whom are members of underrepresented groups) both through direct use of the apparatus through research, and through broad exposure to an active, vibrant, well-equipped research environment.