MRI: Development of a passive phase-stabilized femtosecond laser system for spatio-temopral imaging and frequency metrology in the infrared

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。超快激光技术的最新进展使探测物质的新光谱在频率精度、时间分辨率以及与新型纳米光学技术相结合的超高空间分辨率方面具有全新的光学体制。到目前为止，由于缺乏合适的激光源，在脉冲能量、可调性、光谱范围和载波包络相位（CEP）的控制方面，大多数的努力都集中在可见光谱区域，而红外（IR）和太赫兹（THz）范围的优势相对较少。这个跨学科项目的目标是开发一种新的超快红外激光光源，作为一个广泛的科学计划的基础，该计划旨在利用超冷分子测试基本对称性和物理定律，利用捕获离子实现快速量子逻辑门，开发新的光学时钟，设计红外等离子体光学天线，并通过时空振动成像研究纳米材料的有限尺寸效应。该仪器位于原子物理学、纳米科学和超快光谱学科学前沿的交叉点，为研究生和本科生提供了丰富的学习环境。这项研究的技术应用包括新的显微镜技术、分子传感器和光学天线。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Recent progress in ultrafast laser technology has enabled new spectroscopies for probing matter in fundamentally new optical regimes with regard to frequency precision, temporal resolution, and in combination with novel nanooptical techniques, ultrahigh spatial resolution. So far, most efforts have concentrated on the visible spectral region with the infrared (IR) and terahertz (THz) range having been taken comparatively little advantage of due to the lack of suitable laser sources with regard to pulse energy, tunability, spectral range, and control of the carrier-envelope phase (CEP).The goal of this interdisciplinary project is the development of a new ultrafast infrared laser light source as the foundation of a broad scientific program aimed at testing basic symmetries and laws of physics using ultracold molecules, implementing fast quantum logic gates with trapped ions, developing new optical clocks, designing optical antennas for IR plasmonics, and at studying finite size effects in nanomaterials by spatio-temporal vibrational imaging. Situated at the intersection of the scientific frontiers of atomic physics, nanoscience, and ultrafast spectroscopy, the highly interdisciplinary research enabled by this instrument provides a rich learning environment for graduate and undergraduate students. Technological applications that can be derived from this research include novel microscopy techniques, molecular sensors, and optical antennas.