MRI: Acquisition of a High-Power Narrow-Band Tunable Laser System for Use in Physics Research

该合同支持购买一台相干MBR-110型钛蓝宝石(钛：S)连续波激光器，以及相应的泵浦激光器、光学台和诊断设备，用于超冷原子物理、具有金刚石氮空位中心的量子信息科学以及垂直腔面发射激光器的注入动力学。Lundblad教授将使用从玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体加载到光学晶格中的超冷原子来探索模拟或行为类似于鲜为人知的凝聚态系统的系统，例如涉及高温超导和量子磁性的系统。基于之前对双势垒晶格和自旋相关晶格的经验，他将探索非标准几何和拓扑晶格中的强关联多体物理：三角形和蜂窝晶格，以及具有环形单位波函数的射频修饰晶格。奇尔德里斯教授将研究钻石中的氮空位(NV)缺陷中心，作为量子信息科学的领先系统。特别是，NV自旋自由度是一种多功能的单自旋系统，易于用光学和微波激发来制备、控制和检测。她将使用受激辐射耗尽(STED)技术在自制的共焦设备中使用亚波长成像方法，利用STED与单个NV中心一起使用的自然优势。这项研究还着眼于在STED成像所必需的条件下更好地理解NV自旋动力学。林教授将利用该设备研究垂直腔面发射激光器(VCSEL)中的注入动力学，特别是旨在了解多模模式下光学注入的非线性动力学，并着眼于通过VCSEL同步在基于混沌的保密通信中的应用。钛：S激光系统的特殊功能--多瓦功率、300 nm调谐能力和低于100 kHz的光谱纯度--确保了研究人员的所有研究目标。收购钛：S激光系统对贝茨大学的本科生研究和教育以及地方、州和国家的研究基础设施产生了广泛的影响。本科生研究是贝茨理科课程的核心组成部分，通过独立学习、暑期研究学徒和必修的高级论文项目获得经验。这些研究经验对于贝茨将不成比例的大量学生送入科学研究生学习的角色至关重要--科学研究生是提供技术和经济发展所需的训练有素的个人的管道。除了本提案中提到的三名研究人员外，所要求的激光系统每年将由6至12名本科生研究人员使用，可能还会有更多的人通过课程使用。激光系统对参与其中的教员的研究活动很重要，从而增加了学术活动，与其他机构合作，并在全州和全国范围内曝光了贝茨正在进行的科学工作。贝茨学院致力于研究，结合校外资金，使贝茨的教职员工能够在高水平的学术活动中运作，现场最先进的仪器设备确保了这一活动将有增无减。因此，这些设备通过研究直接使用设备，以及通过广泛接触活跃、充满活力和设备齐全的研究环境，影响了贝茨的学生(其中许多人是代表不足的群体的成员)。

This award supports the purchase of a Coherent MBR-110 titanium:sapphire(Ti:S) continuous-wave laser, with accompanying pump laser, optical table, and diagnostic equipment, for use in ultracold atomic physics, quantum information science with diamond nitrogen-vacancy centers, and injection dynamics of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. Prof. Lundblad will use ultracold atoms loaded from a Bose-Einstein condensate into an optical lattice to explore systems which simulate or behave analogously to poorly-understood condensed-matter systems, e.g. those involved with high-Tc superconductivity and quantum magnetism. Building on previous experience with double-well lattices and spin-dependent lattices, he will explore strongly-correlated many-body physics in lattices of nonstandard geometry and topology: the triangle and honeycomb lattices, and radiofrequency-dressed lattices with ring-like single-site wavefunctions. Prof. Childress will study the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect center in diamond as a leading system for quantum information science. In particular, the NV spin degree of freedom is a versatile single spin system readily prepared, controlled, and detected with optical and microwave excitation. She will use stimulated-emission depletion (STED) techniques for subwavelength imaging methods in a homebuilt confocal apparatus, exploiting the natural advantages of STED used with individual NV centers. The research also centers on an improved understanding of NV spin dynamics under conditions necessary for STED-based imaging. Prof. Lin will use the equipment to study injection dynamics in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs), specifically aiming to understand the nonlinear dynamics of optical injection in the multimode regime, with an eye towards applications in chaos-based secure communication via VCSEL synchronization. The particular features of the Ti:S laser system - multiwatt power, 300nm tuning capability, and sub-100-kHz spectral purity - enables all of the investigators' research goals. The acquisition of the Ti:S laser system has a broad impact on undergraduate research and education at Bates as well as on local, state, and national research infrastructure. Undergraduate research is a core component of the science curriculum at Bates, experienced through independent study, summer research apprenticeships, and a required senior thesis project. These research experiences are crucial to Bates' role in sending a disproportionately large number of students into postgraduate study in the sciences - the pipeline that provides the trained individuals necessary for technological and economic development. In addition to the three investigators named in this proposal, the requested laser system will be used by six to twelve undergraduate researchers each year, and potentially by more via curricular use. The laser system is important to the research activity of the faculty involved, resulting in increased scholarly activity, collaboration with other institutions, and statewide and national exposure of scientific work being performed at Bates. The institutional commitment to research at Bates in combination with extramural funding allow Bates faculty to operate at a high level of scholarly activity, and the on-site presence of state-of-the-art instrumentation ensures that this activity will continue unabated. The equipment thus impacts Bates students (many of whom are members of underrepresented groups) both through direct use of the apparatus through research, and through broad exposure to an active, vibrant, well-equipped research environment.