CAREER: Femtosecond Enhancement Cavities for Efficient Production of Extreme-Ultraviolet Radiation

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Proposal Number: ECS-0645220Proposal Title: CAREER: Femtosecond Enhancement Cavities for Efficient Production of Extreme-Ultraviolet RadiationPI Name: Jones, R. JasonPI Institution: University of ArizonaThe objective of this program is to promote education in ultrafast optical science at the University of Arizona while developing a novel approach for efficient generation of ultra-short extreme-ultraviolet light sources. The approach is to utilize high finesse, passive optical cavities to coherently add together pulses from a femtosecond frequency comb and store a single, greatly amplified pulse inside the cavity. This approach will provide the high laser intensities required for high-harmonic generation, without the need for large amplifiers, while maintaining the original high repetition frequency and coherence properties of the original laser.Intellectual Merit. The ability to efficiently generate femtosecond frequency combs in the extreme-ultraviolet spectral region will have a large impact in many fields. Many atomic and molecular transitions of great interest to our fundamental understanding of nature lay in this portion of the spectrum and are difficult or impossible to measure with current laser sources. Furthermore, improved next generation atomic clocks can be realized from these narrow, high energy resonances. An efficient extreme-ultraviolet source will potentially open up even more applications across diverse fields such as surface physics, biological imaging, and photo-lithography to name a few.Broader Impact. This program will foster the growth of ultrafast science within the University of Arizona through the critical involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in research. By the end of the program it is expected that a new course in ultrafast optical phenomena will be developed. Furthermore, educational and research opportunities will both be strengthened through collaborations with undergraduate institutions.