Development of a novel laser source for nonlinear optical applications EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research

在这项由化学系化学测量和成像计划资助的早期概念探索性研究资助项目中，来自密歇根州立大学的Marcos Dantus教授将研究一种设计和建造飞秒激光器的新方法。所提出的发展试图利用通信半导体泵浦的连续波激光器的稳定性和低成本来产生超短脉冲。由此产生的激光器应该模仿传统超快激光器的能力，但比目前可用的光源具有更高的稳定性、坚固性、效率和更低的成本。该信号源将采用Dantus开发的自适应脉冲压缩技术。这一新来源的成功演示将导致其在生物医学成像、传感、计量和通信领域的使用。考虑到坚固、紧凑和节能的组件，新的光源应该是便携式传感仪器的理想选择。非线性光学成像和传感应用将被用来展示由此产生的新技术的实际能力。拟议的低成本方法将使超快激光(主要用于时间分辨光谱和非线性光学成像)可供更多类型的研究实验室使用，并通过增加这项技术的可及性和可靠性来促进科学发现。

In this EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER), funded by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Marcos Dantus from Michigan State University will investigate a novel approach to the design and construction of femtosecond lasers. The proposed development seeks to exploit the stability and low cost of the telecommunication semiconductor pumped CW lasers to generate ultrashort pulses. The resulting laser should mimic the capabilities of a traditional ultrafast laser, but have greater stability, ruggedness, efficiency and lower cost than the presently available sources. The source will incorporate adaptive pulse compression technology developed by Dantus. The successful demonstration of this new source will lead to its use in the areas of biomedical imaging, sensing, metrology and communications. The new source should be ideal for portable sensing instrumentation given the rugged, compact, and energy efficient components. Nonlinear optical imaging and sensing applications will be used to demonstrate the practical capabilities of the resulting new technology. The proposed low-cost approach will make ultrafast lasers (primarily used for time-resolved spectroscopy and for nonlinear optical imaging) available to a much wider variety of research laboratories, and boost scientific discovery by increased accessibility and reliance of this technology.