Alabama Laser Research Initiative

570阿拉巴马州劳森激光研究倡议阿拉巴马州激光研究倡议建议在伯明翰阿拉巴马大学建立一个独特的世界级激光研究设施，为光子学研究和开发提供光谱可调的激光脉冲。该设施将有助于在阿拉巴马州激光和光子学领域的科学、工程和数学基础设施之间建立系统联系。这项计划将从事的具体研究领域包括为未来的商业激光系统开发新的有源介质，研究用于光开关的新型非线性光学材料，以及研究用于改变激光光束轮廓以提高激光系统效率的新型光学系统。新的有源介质(固体杂质掺杂和色心)的研究是由对新波长激光器的需求推动的，并将导致新的辐照色心和杂质掺杂晶体的发展。这些新的有源介质最终将作为商业激光公司的新型产品得到应用，包括光谱可调固态激光器、被动Q开关和锁模器。非线性光学材料的研究受到美国国防部(DoD)以及传感器加固、光学处理或计算、光开关等商业应用的推动，并将涉及到新型高光折变非线性光学材料的开发。色心激光实验将被用来表征这些材料。最终，这将导致用于国防部和商业应用的改进的非线性光学(NLO)材料。光束轮廓修正研究的目的是为了将高斯激光的光束轮廓转换为更均匀的辐照度分布，以用于材料的投影加工等应用。在新型光束整形领域的拟议研究将导致用于制造大规模微光学元件阵列的光束整形器。阿拉巴马州激光研究计划将为本科生和研究生(包括阿拉巴马州少数群体参与联盟计划的参与者)提供激光和光子科学与技术方面的教育机会。这一教育过程的重点将是发展应用技能，这些技能将直接用于(I)位于阿拉巴马州的新的商业激光和光电子公司；(Ii)使目前位于阿拉巴马州的工业现代化。除了教育学生，这项拟议的研究还将有助于开发新的激光和光电子技术，这些技术可以转移到阿拉巴马州的工业中，用于开发新产品和改进制造工艺。

Abstract 570 Lawson Alabama Laser Research Initiative The Alabama Laser Research Initiative proposes to establish a unique world-class Laser Research Facility at the University of Alabama at Birmingham which will provide spectrally tunable laser pulses for photonics research and development. The facility will help to develop systemic linkages between the science, engineering, and mathematics infrastructure in Alabama in the area of lasers and photonics. Specific areas of research to be pursued in this initiative include the development of new active media for future commercial laser systems, research into new types of nonlinear optical materials for optical switching, and research into new types of optical systems for laser beam profile modification to enhance the efficiency of laser systems. The new active media research (solid state impurity doped and color centers) is spurred by the need for lasers at new wavelengths, and will result in the development of new irradiated color centers and impurity doped crystals. These new active media will ultimately have applications as new types of products for commercial laser companies, including spectrally tunable solid state lasers, passive Q-switches, and mode-lockers. The nonlinear optical materials research is motivated by Department of Defense (DoD) and commercial applications such as sensor hardening, optical processing or computing, and optical switching, and will involve the development of new highly photorefractive NLO materials. Color-center laser-based experiments will be used to characterize these materials. Ultimately, this will lead to improved nonlinear optical (NLO) materials for DoD and commercial applications. The beam profile modification research is motivated by the need to transform a Gaussian laser beam profiles into a more uniform irradiance distributions for applications such as projection processing of materials. The proposed research in the area of novel beam reshaping will lead to beam reshapers for use in producing massive arrays of micro-optical elements. This Alabama Laser Research Initiative will provide opportunities to educate undergraduate and graduate students (including participants in the Alabama Alliance for Minority Participation program) in laser and photonic sciences and technologies. The emphasis of this educational process will be to develop applied skills that will be directly used (i) in new commercial laser and photonics companies located in Alabama; and (ii) to modernize current Alabama based industries. In addition to educating students, the proposed research will help to develop new laser and photonics technologies that can be transferred to Alabama industries to develop new products and to improve manufacturing processes.