CRIF-MU: Cyber-Enabled Multi-User Laser Experiment (CyberMULE)

University Of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN

Investigators

Abstract

With this award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation and Facilities: Multi-user (CRIF:MU) program, Professor William Tolman from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (UM-TC) and colleagues Joseph Brom from the College of St. Thomas, Aaron Massari from UM-TC, Sarah Schmidtke from the College of Wooster and Keith Walters from Northern Kentucky University will acquire a tunable ultrafast visible, near IR (NIR), and mid-IR (MIR) pump-probe spectrometer that will be located at UM-TC. The instrumentation will be remotely accessible from various campuses via the internet using cutting edge network communication and hardware control. The award will enhance research training and education at all levels, especially in areas of study such as (a) pump-probe spectroscopy of dipyrromethane dye molecules, (b) mid-IR pump probe spectroscopy of conducting polymers, (c) photochemistry of organic intramolecular charge transfer systems, and (d) photophysics of supramolecular organometallic assemblies. The Cyber-enabled Multi-User Laser Experiment (CyberMULE) will consist of a high power, ultrafast laser system producing two pulsed beamlines that cross in a sample to perform pump-probe experiments that are controlled and disseminated through a web-interface. In a pump-probe experiment, a large intensity pump pulse excites the molecules in the sample, and then a low intensity probe pulse arrives after a controlled delay to monitor any time-dependent changes that were induced by the pump. The nature of these changes depends on the wavelength (color) of the light in the pump pulse, ranging from photochemical reactions to electron transfer events to structural motions. These experiments provide information on the internal structure and properties of compounds and materials important for various applications. Even though the instrumentation will be located in a spectroscopy facility at UM-TC many researchers and students at other colleges and universities will be able to access it remotely.