Nonlinear Optics of Nanocomposites in Microcavities

本课题将研究分形/微腔复合材料的光学特性。复合材料是由纳米尺寸的金属分形聚集体形成的，其尺寸约为1.8微米，嵌入直径为数百微米的特征尺寸的介电腔中。研究了复合材料的各种非线性发射，包括激光、多光子吸收和超拉曼散射。先前的实验表明，这些系统的光谱发射表现出巨大的增强因子（定义为复合材料存在时与不存在的光强之比），可以大于10*15，在某些特殊情况下，可以大于10*21。学生将参与这项研究。他们将因此获得技能和知识，为他们未来在工业、政府或学术界的就业做好准备。一种能够增加光信号强度的装置，即光放大器，将在科学技术中有许多用途。该项目涉及研究一类非凡的光学材料的光学特性，即所谓的分形/微腔复合材料，它可以通过巨大的因素放大光。这两个分量中的每一个都对放大有贡献。在合成物中，这些贡献成倍地结合在一起，因此产生的放大可能是真正巨大的。在先前的实验中，放大倍数超过1千万亿（1后面加15个零）。光信号的最终放大预计会更大，为此目的，本赠款支持的研究正在进行。这项研究将吸引学生的参与，他们将因此获得技能和知识，为工业、政府实验室和学术界的高级研究和就业做准备

The optical characteristics of fractal/microcavity composites will be investigated in this project. The composites are formed from nanometer-size metal fractal aggregates of approximate size 1.8 micrometers, embedded in a dielectric cavity of characteristic size several hundred micrometers in diameter. A variety of nonlinear emissions from the composites will be investigated including lasing, multiphoton absorption, and hyper-Raman scattering. Previous experiments have shown that the spectral emissions from these systems exhibit enormous enhancement factors (defined as the ratio of the optical intensity with and without the presence of the composite), which can be greater than 10*15 and, for certain special cases, greater than 10*21. Students will participate in this research. They will thereby acquire skills and knowledge that prepares them for future employment in industry, government or academe.%%%A device capable of increasing the intensity of a light signal, i.e., an optical amplifier, will have many uses in science and technology. This project concerns the study of the optical properties of a remarkable class of optical materials, so-called fractal/microcavity composites, which amplify light by enormous factors. Each of the two components contributes to the amplification. In the composite these contributions combine multiplicatively so that the resulting amplification can be truly enormous. In previous experiments amplification factors in excess of 1 quadrillion (1 followed by 15 zeroes) were observed. The ultimate amplification of light signals is expected to be even greater and it is towards this end that the studies supported by this grant are undertaken. This research will engage the participation of students who will thereby acquire skills and knowledge in preparation for advanced studies and employment in industry, government laboratories, and academe.***