Undergraduate Laser Laboratory

激光在许多科学和工程领域是不可缺少的工具。阿拉斯加大学费尔班克斯分校（UAF）提供一门综合性的本科水平的一学期激光实验课程，该课程遵循现有的一学期经典光学课程（带实验室）。在过去的几年里，UAF已经为激光实验室积累了各种各样的激光器。具体来说，我们有一个氩离子激光器、一个闪光灯抽运染料激光器、一个氮激光器、一个氮激光抽运染料激光器、一些氦氖激光器和一个Nd:YAG激光器。这个项目正在获得最终的工具，这将使我们能够向我们的学生提供这门课程。特别地，我们正在获得：校准焦耳计，以测量各种脉冲激光器中的脉冲能量；一个二极管阵列用于光栅光谱仪，因此我们可以“单次”测量激光光谱；另一个二极管阵列用于测量空间光束轮廓；二极管激光器填补了我们激光器库存的空白；一个带有布鲁斯特窗口的氦氖管和一组外部镜子，这样学生们就可以在固定增益的介质中校准几个不同的腔（共焦腔、半球腔和平腔）；一个数据记录仪，这样我们就可以使用我们的扫描光栅光谱仪（带光电倍增管）来测量脉冲氮激光泵浦染料激光器的调谐曲线，一套具有透射率范围的输出耦合器用于氩离子激光器，这样学生就可以看到514 nm线和488 nm线之间的增益差异；以及几副安全护目镜，以便学生可以安全地使用Nd:YAG激光器。鉴于激光在当代科学中的重要性，我们通过提供这门课程为学生提供了一个伟大的服务，无论他们是选择去读研还是立即进入就业市场。

The laser is an indispensable tool in many fields of science and engineering. The University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) is providing a comprehensive, undergraduate-level, one-semester laser laboratory course which follows an existing one-semester course in classical optics (with lab). Over the last several years UAF has accumulated a wide variety of lasers for the laser lab. In particular, we have an Argon ion laser, a flashlamp-pumped dye laser, a nitrogen laser, a nitrogen laser- pumped dye laser, a number of helium-neon lasers, and a Nd:YAG laser.This project is obtaining the final instruments which will allow us to offer this course to our students. In particular, we are obtaining: a calibrated Joule meter to measure the pulse energy in the various pulsed lasers; a diode array for our grating spectrometer so we can measure laser spectra "single shot;" another diode array to measure spatial beam profiles; a diode laser to fill a hole in our laser inventory; a helium-neon tube with Brewster windows and a set of external mirrors so that the students can get the experience of aligning several different cavities (confocal, hemispherical, and flat-flat) for a fixed gain medium; a data logger so we can use our scanning grating spectrometer (with photomultiplier tube) to measure the tuning curve of the pulsed nitrogen laser-pumped dye laser, a set of output couplers with a range of transmittances for the Argon ion laser so that the students can see the difference in gain between the 514 nm line and the 488 nm line; and several pairs of safety goggles so that the students can safely use the Nd:YAG laser.Given the importance of the laser in contemporary science we are doing our students a great service by providing this course whether they choose to go to graduate school or enter the job market immediately.