Purchase of Nd: YAG Pumped Dye Laser for Spectroscopic Studies

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This award from the Chemistry Research Instrumentation Program will allow the Chemistry Department at American University to purchase a Nd:YAG pumped dye laser. Junior faculty member Charles D. Pibel will be the primary user of this instrument, which will allow him to perform cavity ringdown laser absorption spectroscopy (CRLAS) studies of a triplet state molecule, and to probe molecular alignment and orientation. The laser will also be used in an undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory as a teaching tool to introduce laser fundamentals and spectroscopy. Lasers are light sources that have many uses in chemistry research. They can be used in experiments to learn about the structure of molecules and unstable free radicals, and to examine detailed molecular properties that can have important ramifications for materials science and biology. Also serving as educational tools, lasers can perform effectively as instruments in undergraduate teaching laboratories.