MRI: Acquisition of an Ultrafast Amplified Laser System

MRI：获取超快放大激光系统

• 批准号: 1532125
• 负责人: Eric Potma
• 金额: $ 44.3万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1532125&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; Ultrafast; Amplified; Laser

This Major Research Instrumentation award supports the acquisition of an ultrafast multimodal spectroscopy system. This system enables advanced time-resolved spectroscopy experiments, a key capability in material and molecular research. The system will be placed in the Laser Spectroscopy Facility (LSF), housed in the Department of Chemistry of the University of California Irvine. Traditionally, ultrafast lasers and spectroscopy have not been part of user facilities because former ultrafast laser technologies were too complex and unreliable to support many users. Consequently, the user community of ultrafast technologies has remained small, and the unique research capabilities of ultrafast optical techniques have remained inaccessible to an audience interested in such capabilities. In this Program, a state-of-the-art ultrafast laser system is made accessible through a three-pronged model based on optimized facility conditions, strong user support and a partnership with industry. This model addresses past limitations to make ultrafast laser technology and its research capabilities accessible to a much broader community of researchers. In making the technology available to a much larger user base, the impact of ultrafast spectroscopy is significantly amplified. The Program ensures broad exposure and dissemination of ultrafast spectroscopy capabilities. On the UCI campus alone, the Laser Spectroscopy Facility (LSF) in which the system will be housed supports more than 300 users, and serves 13 departments on campus. By leveraging strong connections with institutions and companies neighboring UCI, a large community of researchers will have access to the ultrafast spectroscopy capabilities offered through the facility. The impact of the requested technology is further fortified by a strong user training program, established channels of dissemination, and an outreach program designed around the ultrafast spectroscopy instrument The most fundamental processes in matter evolve on ultrafast time scales. Examples include the making and breaking of chemical bonds, conformational motions of molecules, evolution of optical excitations, and electron transfer processes. These phenomena form the mechanistic basis of scientific challenges in chemistry, biology and materials science: designing efficient catalysts, understanding nature's solution to light harvesting materials, and optimizing the efficiency of solar cells, to name a few. Ultrafast laser technologies have proven indispensable for meeting these challenges, as they provide direct recordings of such fast fundamental processes. Consequently, the demand for ultrafast spectroscopy is growing, as an increasingly expanding pool of chemists, chemical engineers, physicists, and biologists come to rely on this technology. The goal of this Program is to bring the unique capabilities of ultrafast laser science to a broad community of researchers. This goal is achieved by implementing a three-pronged model: 1) Acquisitions of a commercial ultrafast laser light source and nonlinear optical spectrometer, with unprecedented performance, versatility, stability, and simplicity of operation. The system is made available through a staffed user facility at the University of California, Irvine (UCI); 2) A partnership with Newport Optics, the supplier of the instrument. The partnership establishes a push-pull mechanism between technology and application for impacting a broad community beyond the users at UCI; 3) The Ultrafast Consultation Board (UCB), a team of experimental and theoretical ultrafast spectroscopists who provide general assistance, technical guidance, mentoring and help with the interpretation of data. By providing depth to the analysis of acquired spectroscopic data, the UCB bolsters the scientific impact of measurements made by non-experts, expands the user base, and magnifies the breadth of research topics supported by this Program.

这一重大研究仪器奖支持收购超高速多峰光谱分析系统。该系统支持先进的时间分辨光谱学实验，这是材料和分子研究的关键能力。该系统将放置在位于加州大学欧文分校化学系的激光光谱分析设备(LSF)中。传统上，超快激光和光谱技术一直不是用户设施的一部分，因为以前的超快激光技术过于复杂和不可靠，无法支持许多用户。因此，超快技术的用户群体仍然很小，对超快光学技术的独特研究能力感兴趣的观众仍然无法接触到这种能力。在该计划中，基于优化的设施条件、强大的用户支持和与行业的合作伙伴关系，通过三管齐下的模式使最先进的超快激光系统变得可用。这种模式解决了过去的限制，使更广泛的研究人员能够接触到超快激光技术及其研究能力。在让更多的用户可以使用这项技术的过程中，超快光谱的影响被显著放大。该计划确保了超快光谱能力的广泛曝光和传播。仅在UCI园区，该系统所在的激光光谱设备(LSF)就支持300多名用户，并为校园内的13个部门提供服务。通过利用与UCI邻近机构和公司的强大联系，一大批研究人员将能够使用该设施提供的超快光谱功能。所要求的技术的影响通过强大的用户培训计划、建立的传播渠道和围绕超快光谱分析仪器设计的推广计划进一步加强。物质中最基本的过程在超快时间尺度上演化。例如化学键的形成和断裂、分子的构象运动、光激发的演化和电子转移过程。这些现象构成了化学、生物和材料科学中科学挑战的机制基础：设计有效的催化剂，了解大自然对光收集材料的解决方案，以及优化太阳能电池的效率，仅举几例。超快激光技术已被证明是应对这些挑战不可或缺的，因为它们提供了对这些快速基本过程的直接记录。因此，随着越来越多的化学家、化学工程师、物理学家和生物学家开始依赖这项技术，对超快光谱的需求正在增长。该计划的目标是将超快激光科学的独特能力带给广泛的研究人员社区。这一目标是通过实施三管齐下的模式实现的：1)获得具有前所未有的性能、通用性、稳定性和操作简单性的商用超快激光光源和非线性光学光谱仪。该系统通过加州大学欧文分校(UCI)的工作人员用户设施提供；2)与仪器供应商Newport Optics建立合作伙伴关系。这一合作伙伴关系建立了技术和应用之间的推拉机制，以影响UCI用户以外的广泛社区；3)超快咨询委员会(UCB)，这是一个由实验和理论超快光谱学家组成的团队，提供一般援助、技术指导、指导和帮助解释数据。通过为获取的光谱数据的分析提供深度，UCB增强了非专家测量的科学影响，扩大了用户基础，并放大了本计划支持的研究课题的广度。