Nonlinear Optics in Green Tea and Cresyl Violet

这个项目使范德比尔特大学能够获得 仪器来教授非线性相互作用， 光与物质，作为大学先进的一部分， 光学和激光实验室。该项目的动机是 对技术方面重要指导的需求不断增加 和现代光学物理学的概念，无论是在先进的 实验室和独立研究和荣誉项目。 最近的概念验证实验包括以下研究： 中国绿色茶中的非线性激光-物质相互作用， 甲酚紫染料和离子注入熔融石英。这 连续波激光器的非线性光学的面向项目的方法， 为本科生提供了一个独特的机会， 严肃的光学物理学，并激励他们 参与研究。该项目正在加强教学 有效性，因为非线性激光相互作用是在 许多激光和光学领域最肥沃的地区的心脏 科学此外，固体中的非线性光学物理和 液体是一个强大而典型的综合领域 探究，将实验和理论结合起来，光学 以及凝聚态物理学、量子和经典物理学。 利用连续波红外和可见光的新教学活动 激光的研究包括：自聚焦和自陷 激光束，光开关实验，和建模 固体和液体中的非线性过程。NSF赠款基金是 与非联邦资金来源相匹配。

This project is enabling Vanderbilt University to acquire instrumentation to teach about the nonlinear interactions of light with matter, as part of the University's advanced laboratory in optics and lasers. The project is motivated by increasing demand for significant instruction in the techniques and concepts of modern optical physics, both in the advanced laboratory and in independent study and in honors projects. Recent proof-of-concept experiments have included studies of nonlinear laser-matter interactions in Chinese green tea, cresyl violet dye, and ion-implanted fused silica. This project-oriented approach to nonlinear optics with cw lasers is giving undergraduate students a unique opportunity to have fun with serious optical physics, and motivating them toward early involvement in research.The project is enhancing teaching effectiveness, because nonlinear laser interactions are at the heart of many of the most fertile areas of laser and optical science. Moreover, nonlinear optical physics in solids and liquids is a powerfully and quintessentially integrative field of inquiry, bringing together experiment and theory, optical and condensed-matter physics, quantum and classical physics. The new instructional activities using cw infrared and visible laser light include: studies of self-focusing and self-trapping of laser beams, optical switching experiments, and modeling of nonlinear processes in solids and liquids.NSF grant funds are being matched with funds from non-federal sources.