Looking inside matter and antimatter with ultra-violet and extreme ultra-violet lasers

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Modern science relies more and more extensively on the utilization of technologically advanced forms of spectroscopy. In fields as diverse as medicine, biology, physics, chemistry, and material science, there is a constant effort to develop novel spectroscopic tools and techniques as they play a fundamental role in the generation of new intuition, concepts, and understandings. Specifically, spectroscopic investigations of materials enable the knowledge of (and ultimately the control over) microscopic, nanoscopic and even quantum characteristics that in turn directly influence macroscopic physical properties. In this research program, I continue my efforts on ultra-violet (UV) and extreme ultra-violet (XUV) spectroscopy on two related topics: development of new laser sources/technology and use of them in innovative spectroscopic applications. A critical component in spectroscopic studies is the laser source and, in many cases, present UV/XUV experiments are limited by the available laser technology. Within the XUV region, we have employed a new approach to realize a high-resolution, laser-based, tabletop XUV source. Using this unique source and with collaborators, we will continue equilibrium high-energy-resolution angle-resolved photo-emission spectroscopy studies in pursuit of some of most pressing topics today in condensed matter physics. In addition, we will develop refinements of our XUV source to enable a wide study of electron dynamics on a femtosecond time scale. With an unprecedented spectral range that spans the infrared through the ultra-violet to the extreme ultra-violet, this new source will open up a much wider range of materials to study. Moreover, it will allow us to disentangle the elementary excitations responsible for strongly correlated electron behavior in these designed quantum solids. And perhaps most intriguingly it could also allow us to induce new quantum states in these solids that are otherwise not accessible. In a second research effort we are pursuing precision hydrogen spectroscopy with international collaborators. Hydrogen is the simplest atom and has played a key role in experimentally confirming several fundamental physical laws. With its charge conjugate now available (antihydrogen) an even more expanded pallet is now available. Towards this end, we are developing several UV laser systems required to cool and probe hydrogen. Using these new laser tools in measurements with our collaborators, we will push measurement uncertainties towards a part in 10^15 level for studies of gravitational force, tests of possible drifts in fundamental “constants”, and the universe’s matter antimatter imbalance.