MRI: Development of Nonlinear Optical Spectrometer

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The objective of this research is to build a Nonlinear Optical (NLO) Spectrometer that will allow the spectrum of nonlinear absorption to be measured over a range of greater than two octaves of bandwidth (400nm to 1800nm) in ~1 hour, do this using an absolutely calibrated method and yield the dispersion of the nonlinear refractive index over the same spectral range. This instrument is transformative to the NLO field as it now takes days for a single material measurement. The approach is to base the spectrometer on the widely used and cited (3000 citations) Z-scan technique. The optical source for the NLO Spectrometer will be an exceedingly high spectral energy density White-Light Continuum (WLC) generated in a noble gas at moderate pressure. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity comes from the instrument?s capability to drastically increase the speed (and hence depth) of characterization of NLO materials. This new capability will allow for more rapid feedback on NLO properties to both theoreticians and synthetic chemists and other material scientists and in turn lead to the development of improved NLO materials. The broader impacts from this great increase in data generation rate are the instrument's potential to impact several fields beyond nonlinear optics, including optical data storage, multi-photon micro-fabrication, imaging (both biological and chemical sensing), photodynamic therapy (medical), and telecommunications. Additionally, this equipment will allow undergraduate, graduate, and research scientists to benefit from a rapid characterization facility, giving the opportunity to learn more about optical field-matter interactions.