MRI: Development of Nonlinear Optical Spectrometer

本研究的目的是建立一个非线性光学（NLO）光谱仪，该光谱仪将允许在约1小时内测量大于两个倍频宽（400nm至1800nm）的非线性吸收光谱，使用绝对校准的方法进行测量，并产生非线性折射率在相同光谱范围内的色散。这台仪器对NLO领域来说是革命性的，因为现在一次材料测量需要几天的时间。该方法是基于广泛使用和被引用（3000次）的z扫描技术。NLO光谱仪的光源将是在中等压力下稀有气体中产生的极高光谱能量密度的白光连续体（WLC）。所提议的活动的智力价值来自于乐器？我们有能力大幅提高NLO材料表征的速度（以及深度）。这种新能力将允许理论家、合成化学家和其他材料科学家更快速地反馈NLO性质，从而导致改进NLO材料的发展。数据生成速率的巨大增长所带来的更广泛的影响是，该仪器有可能影响非线性光学以外的几个领域，包括光学数据存储、多光子微加工、成像（生物和化学传感）、光动力治疗（医学）和电信。此外，该设备将使本科生、研究生和研究科学家受益于快速表征设施，使他们有机会更多地了解光场-物质相互作用。

The objective of this research is to build a Nonlinear Optical (NLO) Spectrometer that will allow the spectrum of nonlinear absorption to be measured over a range of greater than two octaves of bandwidth (400nm to 1800nm) in ~1 hour, do this using an absolutely calibrated method and yield the dispersion of the nonlinear refractive index over the same spectral range. This instrument is transformative to the NLO field as it now takes days for a single material measurement. The approach is to base the spectrometer on the widely used and cited (3000 citations) Z-scan technique. The optical source for the NLO Spectrometer will be an exceedingly high spectral energy density White-Light Continuum (WLC) generated in a noble gas at moderate pressure. The intellectual merit of the proposed activity comes from the instrument?s capability to drastically increase the speed (and hence depth) of characterization of NLO materials. This new capability will allow for more rapid feedback on NLO properties to both theoreticians and synthetic chemists and other material scientists and in turn lead to the development of improved NLO materials. The broader impacts from this great increase in data generation rate are the instrument's potential to impact several fields beyond nonlinear optics, including optical data storage, multi-photon micro-fabrication, imaging (both biological and chemical sensing), photodynamic therapy (medical), and telecommunications. Additionally, this equipment will allow undergraduate, graduate, and research scientists to benefit from a rapid characterization facility, giving the opportunity to learn more about optical field-matter interactions.