Acquisition of Tunable Narrow-line Laser for Photonic Band Gap and Disordered Materials Research and Education

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This is an instrument acquisition award from the Major Research Instrumentation program and the Instrumentation for Materials Research program to the City University of New York Queens College. The award will allow CUNY Queens College to purchase a Coherent 899-29 Autoscan II single frequency scanning laser for the study of the statistics of optical propagation in random and nearly periodic materials and photonic devices. The instrument will allow the principal investigators to extend the coherent technique developed in the microwave region of the spectrum to visible and infrared frequencies. It will allow them to characterize the statistics of transport using statistical measures of the transmitted fields and intensity, and to use the variance of intensity fluctuations as a sure test of phonon localization free of ambiguities arising from absorption of microwave resonance. Band edge and localized modes in cholesteric liquid crystals will be characterized. The objective is to clarify the conjunction of lasing and localization and guide development of homogeneous cholesteric materials in which ultra-low lasing threshold will be observed. The instrument will provide students preparing for careers in physics with a sound mix of microwave and optical techniques as well as exposure to industrial research laboratories engaged in forefront research. This is an instrument acquisition award from the Major Research Instrumentation program and the Instrumentation for Materials Research program to the City University of New York Queens College. The award will allow CUNY Queens College to purchase a Coherent 899-29 Autoscan II single frequency scanning laser for the study of the statistics of optical propagation in random and nearly periodic materials and photonic devices. The instrument will allow the principal investigators to extend the coherent technique developed in the microwave region of the spectrum to visible and infrared frequencies. The instrument will provide students preparing for careers in physics with a sound mix of microwave and optical techniques as well as exposure to industrial research laboratories engaged in forefront research.