MRI: Development of Joint-use Ultra-fast Pump-probe Instrument for Thin-films Experimental Research

非技术描述：该仪器开发项目提供了一个通用的、共享使用的实验平台，使超快、脉冲激光测量能够系统地确定各种新型光学、磁性和电子材料的性质，并研究其基本物理过程，这些材料将应用于太阳能电池、信息存储、低功耗计算和信号处理。通过国家纳米技术协调基础设施计划，该平台可供全国的研究人员使用。它还在教育和培训下一代科学家和工程师的先进仪器设计和材料的超快激光测量技术方面发挥重要作用。技术描述：该仪器结合了强大的商业组件和定制子系统，提供必要的实验灵活性，以支持不同的测量需求。激光脉冲可在宽光谱范围（258 nm至2500 nm）和时间特性（25 fs至10 ps）上进行调谐，重复频率为1 kHz至1 MHz。该仪器集成了一个磁光低温恒温器，可以改变样品的温度（1.7 K至350 K）和磁场（高达7 T）环境，并允许稳态到射频（15 GHz）电激励和检测。定制设计的光学子系统使激光脉冲拉伸和压缩，脉冲的可编程空间调制和扫描共聚焦显微镜。控制软件，与远程前面板，允许虚拟使用。该仪器支持的研究实例包括钙钛矿薄膜中的振动耦合和载流子动力学，工程功能材料的各向异性弹性特性的测定，新型磁致伸缩材料中的磁子-声子耦合，以及用于太阳能吸收装置的材料的固有内部量子效率和超快电子动力学。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Non-Technical Description:This instrument development project delivers a versatile, shared-use experimental platform to enable ultrafast, pulsed laser measurements to systematically determine the properties and investigate fundamental physical processes in a variety of new optical, magnetic and electronic materials of interest for application in solar cells, information storage, low-power computing and signal processing. The platform is available for use to researchers nationwide, via the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure initiative. It, vitally, also serves in the education and training of the next-generation of scientists and engineers in advanced instrument design and ultrafast laser measurement techniques for materials.Technical Description:The instrument combines robust commercial components with custom-built subsystems to provide the experimental flexibility necessary to support diverse measurement needs. The laser pulses are tunable over a wide spectral range (258 nm to 2500 nm) and temporal characteristics (25 fs to 10 ps) with a repetition rate from 1 kHz to 1 MHz. The instrument integrates a magneto-optic cryostat to vary the temperature (1.7 K to 350 K) and magnetic field (up to 7 T) environment of the sample and allow steady-state to radio-frequency (15 GHz) electrical excitation and detection. Custom-designed optical subsystems enable laser pulse stretching and compression, programmable spatial modulation of the pulses, and scanning confocal microscopy. Control software, with remote front panels, allows virtual use. Examples of studies supported by the instrument include vibrational coupling and charge-carrier dynamics in perovskite thin films, determination of anisotropic elastic properties for engineered functional materials, magnon-phonon coupling in novel magnetostrictive materials, and intrinsic internal quantum efficiency and ultrafast electron dynamics of materials used in solar absorber devices.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.