Advanced laser physics and nonlinear optics: pushing the limits of ultrashort pulse laser sources and nonlinear imaging techniques

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Interaction of extremely short (10^-13 - 10^-15 s) pulses of laser light with matter can produce various optical signals. Each of these secondary signals (or their individual properties such as colour, intensity, directionality, temporal behaviour, etc.) can be used to construct a high resolution image of a sample. Multiple signals can be produced directly by the sample itself or by adding additional chemicals that are called labels. More importantly, each of the generated signals carries specific information about the sample's structure, its structural organization, chemical composition or biochemical properties. Therefore, such laser based imaging technologies when used with live cells or tissues have enormous potential for rapid, sensitive and reliable diagnostics of many diseases at their very early stages of development. This can significantly improve efficiency and outcomes of medical treatments. Unfortunately, penetration of these diagnostic tools into real clinical environment is hampered by the high cost and poor performance of laser sources that produce short pulses of laser light. In addition, toxicity of many chemical labels precludes their use with humans. To address these challenging factors the proposed research program will develop (a) new innovative and cost-effective laser sources; and (b) an advanced laser imaging technique that does not require chemical labels and can simultaneously provide information about several different properties of a sample. These instruments will be developed by 9 graduate students (6 PhDs and 3 MScs) over a 5 year period. The students will receive cutting-edge training in laser, imaging and spectroscopy technologies, optical materials, detector, electronics and high-precision mechanics, data acquisition and analysis. The training will be also offered to highly qualified personnel at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels through supervision of undergraduate thesis and summer projects and collaborative research activities. The new knowledge generated by the proposed research program will make laser-based biomedical diagnostic techniques more powerful, efficient, reliable, cost-effective, and therefore, more mature and attractive for clinical applications.