Intracavity sensors and spectroscopy with mode-locked lasers

摘要知识优势：本项目的目的是利用激光腔作为传感器。虽然激光已被广泛用作光源，但其精确测量的独特环境尚未得到认识。激光腔内的相位到频率转换可以测量小于千万分之一的相位变化。这些测量可应用于惯性传感、磁场测量和非线性指数（精度为10-21cm2/W）。该项目的另一个基础科学贡献是锁模激光器的新型光谱学，强调重复率依赖性，从而提高了传感器的稳定性和准确性。要研究的材料包括原子、生物膜（激发它们的共振）和分子。投影传感器将有两个脉冲在光学参量振荡器腔中循环，由与信号腔共享参量晶体的外腔半导体激光器泵浦。更广泛的影响：这个研究小组的大多数激光系统都是在内部设计和建造的，保证每个毕业生都是飞秒激光器的专家。在过去30年中积累的飞秒现象的经验已被记录在一本研究生教科书中，并最终形成一种新型传感器，将为环境检测和材料研究提供工具。本课题成果将纳入新墨西哥大学光学科学与工程博士专业的两门研究生课程（现代课题和光学实验室）。国家科学基金会的教师研究型教育资源将用于招收来自阿尔伯克基学院和桑迪亚预科学校（两所精选高中）的教师参加夏季项目。该小组将继续欢迎少数族裔（在之前的NSF资助期间，7名研究生中有4名是女性）和美国主流社会的新成员。新墨西哥大学是一所西班牙裔服务机构。

Jean-Claude DielsUniversity of New Mexico0601612AbstractIntellectual Merit: The aim of this project is to use the laser cavity as a sensor. Although lasers had been used widely as sources, their unique environment for precision measurement had not been recognized. Phase to frequency conversion inside laser cavities enable measurements of phase changes smaller than 1 part in 10 million. These measurements can be applied to inertial sensing, magnetic field measurements, and nonlinear index (with an accuracy of 10-21cm2/W). Another basic scientific contribution of this project is a novel spectroscopy with mode-locked lasers, with emphasis on repetition rate dependence, leading to improved stability and accuracy of sensors. Materials to be investigated include atoms, biological membranes (exciting their resonances) and molecules. The projected sensors will have two pulses circulating in an optical parametric oscillator cavity, pumped by an external cavity semiconductor laser sharing the parametric crystal with the signal cavity.Broader Impacts: Most laser systems of this research group are being designed and constructed in house, guaranteeing that each graduate is an expert in femtosecond lasers. The experience in femtosecond phenomena accumulated over the last 30 years has been documented in a graduate textbook, and is culminating in a new type of sensor that will provide a tool for environmental detection and material studies. Results of this project will be incorporated in two graduate courses (Modern topics and Optics Labs) of the Optical Science and Engineering Ph.D. program of UNM. The NSF resources of the Research Education for Teachers will be used to enroll the participation of teachers from Albuquerque Academy and Sandia Prep (two selective High Schools) in the summer months of the program. This group will continue to welcome minorities (4 out of 7 graduate students were women during the previous NSF grant period) and newcomers to the mainstream of American society. UNM is a Hispanic serving institution.