MRI: Acquisition of an Ultraviolet Laser for Quantum Imaging

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).We will acquire an ultraviolet laser for novel quantum imaging experiments at Colgate University. The grant will support and enhance the infrastructure of a very vigorous research program in optical physics at Colgate where undergraduates are the prime researchers and coauthors of its published research output. The Laser will be used to produce non-classical states of light in the form of photon pairs. With this unique light form we will study a novel concept in optical physics: the helical spatial modes of light, where the wave-front of the light has corkscrew shapes. In recent years there has been much interest in the study of these modes from a quantum mechanical perspective because of their potential use in encoding information and imaging.The broad impacts of the acquisition of the equipment are to enhance the research experience of undergraduates at Colgate University, and prepare them for future careers in science. In addition, the outcome of the research to be done with this laser will make fundamental contributions to the field of quantum information, a topic that is at one of the forefronts of physics research today.