Alabama Laser Research Initiative

摘要570劳森亚拉巴马激光研究倡议 亚拉巴马激光研究计划建议在伯明翰的亚拉巴马大学建立一个独特的世界级激光研究设施，为光子学研究和开发提供光谱可调谐激光脉冲。 该设施将有助于发展亚拉巴马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的商业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，以及研究用于激光束轮廓修改以提高激光系统效率的新型光学系统。 对新波长激光器的需求刺激了对新活性介质（固态杂质掺杂和色心）的研究，并将导致新的激光器的开发。 照射的色心和掺杂杂质的晶体。 这些新的有源介质最终将作为商业激光公司的新型产品应用，包括光谱可调谐固态激光器，被动Q开关和锁模器。 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，和光开关的动机，并将涉及新的高度光折变非线性光学材料的开发。 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，以应用于诸如材料的投影加工。 在新的光束整形领域的拟议研究将导致用于生产大规模阵列的微光学元件的光束整形器。 这亚拉巴马激光研究计划将提供机会，教育本科生和研究生（包括在亚拉巴马联盟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发展应用技能，将直接用于（一）在新的商业激光和光子公司位于亚拉巴马;和（二）现代化当前亚拉巴马为基础的行业。 除了教育学生，拟议的研究将有助于开发新的激光和光子技术，可以转移到亚拉巴马工业开发新产品和改善制造工艺。

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.