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新的光谱学能够在频率精度、时间分辨率以及与新型纳米光学技术相结合的空间分辨率方面在全新的光学制度中探测物质。到目前为止，大多数努力集中在可见光谱区域，由于在脉冲能量、可调谐性、光谱范围、载波包络相位（CEP）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，作为旨在测试基本对称性和物理定律的广泛科学计划的基础。在使用超冷分子，实现快速量子逻辑门与捕获离子，开发新的光学时钟，设计光学天线的红外等离子体，并在研究有限尺寸效应的纳米材料的时空振动成像。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，能够进行高度跨学科的研究，为研究生和本科生提供了丰富的学习环境。 可以从这项研究中获得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.