Alabama Laser Research Initiative

阿拉巴马州激光研究计划

• 批准号: 9450570
• 负责人: Christopher Lawson
• 金额: $ 19.99万
• 依托单位: University of Alabama at Birmingham
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-08-01 至 1996-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9450570&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Alabama; Laser; Research; Initiative

Abstract 570 Lawson Alabama Laser Research Initiative The Alabama Laser Research Initiative proposes to establish a unique world-class Laser Research Facility at the University of Alabama at Birmingham which will provide spectrally tunable laser pulses for photonics research and development. The facility will help to develop systemic linkages between the science, engineering, and mathematics infrastructure in Alabama in the area of lasers and photonics. Specific areas of research to be pursued in this initiative include the development of new active media for future commercial laser systems, research into new types of nonlinear optical materials for optical switching, and research into new types of optical systems for laser beam profile modification to enhance the efficiency of laser systems. The new active media research (solid state impurity doped and color centers) is spurred by the need for lasers at new wavelengths, and will result in the development of new irradiated color centers and impurity doped crystals. These new active media will ultimately have applications as new types of products for commercial laser companies, including spectrally tunable solid state lasers, passive Q-switches, and mode-lockers. The nonlinear optical materials research is motivated by Department of Defense (DoD) and commercial applications such as sensor hardening, optical processing or computing, and optical switching, and will involve the development of new highly photorefractive NLO materials. Color-center laser-based experiments will be used to characterize these materials. Ultimately, this will lead to improved nonlinear optical (NLO) materials for DoD and commercial applications. The beam profile modification research is motivated by the need to transform a Gaussian laser beam profiles into a more uniform irradiance distributions for applications such as projection processing of materials. The proposed research in the area of novel beam reshaping will lead to beam reshapers for use in producing massive arrays of micro-optical elements. This Alabama Laser Research Initiative will provide opportunities to educate undergraduate and graduate students (including participants in the Alabama Alliance for Minority Participation program) in laser and photonic sciences and technologies. The emphasis of this educational process will be to develop applied skills that will be directly used (i) in new commercial laser and photonics companies located in Alabama; and (ii) to modernize current Alabama based industries. In addition to educating students, the proposed research will help to develop new laser and photonics technologies that can be transferred to Alabama industries to develop new products and to improve manufacturing processes.

劳森阿拉巴马激光研究计划阿拉巴马激光研究计划提议在伯明翰阿拉巴马大学建立一个独特的世界级激光研究设施，为光子学的研究和发展提供光谱可调谐激光脉冲。该设施将有助于发展阿拉巴马州激光和光子学领域的科学、工程和数学基础设施之间的系统联系。该计划的具体研究领域包括为未来商用激光系统开发新的有源介质，研究用于光开关的新型非线性光学材料，以及研究用于激光光束轮廓修改的新型光学系统，以提高激光系统的效率。新的活性介质（固态掺杂杂质和色心）的研究是受新波长激光需求的推动，并将导致新的辐照色心和掺杂杂质晶体的发展。这些新型有源介质最终将作为新型产品应用于商业激光公司，包括光谱可调谐固态激光器、无源q开关和模式锁。非线性光学材料的研究是由国防部（DoD）和商业应用如传感器硬化，光学处理或计算和光开关所推动的，并将涉及到新型高光折变NLO材料的开发。基于色心激光的实验将用于表征这些材料。最终，这将为国防部和商业应用带来改进的非线性光学（NLO）材料。光束轮廓修正研究的动机是需要将高斯激光光束轮廓转换为更均匀的辐照度分布，以用于材料的投影处理等应用。在新型光束整形领域的研究将导致光束整形器用于生产大量的微光学元件阵列。这个阿拉巴马激光研究计划将提供机会，教育本科生和研究生（包括阿拉巴马联盟的少数民族参与计划的参与者）在激光和光子科学和技术。这一教育过程的重点将是开发应用技能，这些技能将直接用于(i)位于阿拉巴马州的新商业激光和光子公司；（ii）使当前阿拉巴马州的工业现代化。除了教育学生，拟议的研究将有助于开发新的激光和光子学技术，这些技术可以转移到阿拉巴马州的工业开发新产品和改进制造工艺。