NER: Femtosecond Pump-Probe Confocal Microscopy of ZnO Nanowire Lasers

这是一项为期一年的特定试验的NER提案，目的是（1）使用空间分辨共焦显微镜检测来表征单个ZnO纳米线激光器结构，以及（2）引入泵浦受激发射转储探测来研究单个纳米线激光器配置的受激发射过程。 所需的ZnO纳米线的形态已经产生和合成细化将进行，以获得最佳质量的多个纳米线的结晶图案。 激光和共聚焦光学显微镜工具，可在这个实验室将被用来光学激发ZnO单纳米线激光介质，并检测光谱和空间分辨的受激发射。 这些包括新的超快泵浦转储实验与钛：蓝宝石飞秒激光器。 激子-激子散射机制的基础科学，以产生晶体纳米线的受激发射和电子空穴等离子体受激发射机制的过渡将进行探索。 这些研究旨在开发新的共聚焦显微镜方法来询问纳米线激光设备，具有一次探索单个设备的特定能力。 在过去的几年里，单分子光谱实验揭示了单个分子环境的许多有趣的方面。 这些研究的目的是将这种显着类型的研究转移到单纳米线激光器和受激发射的研究中。

This is a NER proposal for a specific one-year trial to (1) characterize single ZnO nanowire laser structures using spatially-resolved confocal microscopy detection, and (2) to introduce pump - stimulated emission dump probing to study stimulated emission processes of single nanowire laser configurations. The requisite morphologies of ZnO nanowires have been produced and synthetic refinement will be performed to obtain the best quality crystalline patterns of multiple nanowires. Laser and confocal optical microscopy tools that are available in this laboratory will be used to optically excite ZnO single nanowire laser media and to detect spectrally and spatially resolved stimulated emission. These include novel ultrafast pump-dump experiments with a Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser. The fundamental science of the exciton-exciton scattering mechanism to produce stimulated emission in crystalline nanowires and the transition to an electron-hole plasma stimulated emission mechanism will be explored. These studies are designed to develop new confocal microscopy methods to interrogate nanowire laser devices, with the specific ability to explore a single device at a time. Single molecule spectroscopy experiments have revealed a number of intriguing aspects of individual molecular environments over the last few years. These studies are intended to transfer this remarkable type of investigation to the study of single nanowire lasers and stimulated emission.