PFI-TT: Development of a Software-Reconfigurable, Ultrafast Spectroscopic Microscope

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is the development of a versatile tool for optically characterizing and imaging a broad range of industrially relevant materials including chemicals, biological systems, pigments and semiconductors. The characterization will be achieved using a suite of ultrafast light-based (spectroscopic) methods. Switching between spectroscopic methods will be realized by reconfiguration of the software alone, no changes to the hardware will be necessary. Optical methods have the advantage of being non-contact and potentially can be implemented in a remote/stand-off configuration, depending on the needs of the specific application. Broadening the range of target materials will increase the societal impact of this methodology by increasing the scope of industries to which the method and tool are applicable.The proposed project is based on demonstrating a broader range of scientific applications that a single-beam, optical, nonlinear spectrometer can access and extending the modalities of the spectrometer as well as implementing imaging capabilities. The spectrometer has been applied to several semiconductor samples and devices. If the nonlinear spectrometer, which is uniquely capable of being integrated with a microscope, is demonstrated for use with chemical and biological systems, the technology may have impact on those scientific communities as well as related industries. Because the nonlinear interaction of light with chemical and biological systems is much weaker than in semiconductors, this demonstration is high risk and high reward.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.