NYI: Studies of Ultrafast Processes Using High-Intensity and Short-Wavelength Light

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Recently, there has been a revolution in the field of ultrafast lasers. New broadband solid-state laser materials such as titanium- doped sapphire make it possible to produce pulses of unprecedented short duration and high average power, using very simple lasers. Also, the recently-developed technique of chirped-pulse amplification makes it possible to generate peak powers of greater than a terawatt using a small-scale laser system. These high-power pulses, in combination with various nonlinear- optical techniques, make it possible for the first time to generate ultrashort pulses at ultraviolet and vacuum-ultraviolet wavelengths. My plan is to study these techniques of generating short-wavelength light, and then to use short-wavelength pulses of 1-100 fs duration to study dynamic processes in material and chemical systems. Since the highly- excited states in atoms, molecules, and solids that are accessible with short-wavelength light typically have very short lifetimes, a source with short wavelength and short time duration will be particularly useful as a research tool. Processes of interest to me include carrier dynamics in high-bandgap materials and dielectric breakdown dynamics; molecular dynamics and molecular control of organic molecules (which typically absorb light most strongly in the deep-UV); and surface dynamics using ultraviolet photoemission.