CAREER: Semiconductor Detectors for Direct Probing of the Absolute Phase of Light

本项目的目标是开发一种可以使用半导体器件直接测量超快脉冲的载波包络相位的技术。智能优点：首先，超快脉冲的载波包络相位(CEP)被认为是光的绝对相位，因为它的定义与第二光波无关。找到一种低成本的方法来测量CEP将使这一基本参数变得更容易获得，从而在光学信息处理、光学传感和精密计量方面开辟一个新的维度。第二，CEP控制是新兴的自动科学和零距离科学的使能技术。要获得如此短的时间尺度，需要使用具有精确定制的场模式的几个周期的高强度红外脉冲。如果没有可靠的方法来探测CEP，这样的壮举是不可能实现的。然而，目前的CEP检测技术复杂得令人望而却步，成本高昂。这项拟议的研究利用了半导体纳米粒子提供的优异相干特性，旨在开发一种基于半导体的CEP探测方案，可能会以电子读数的方式进行，最终可能为世界各地的大多数研究人员打开进入第二外星世界的大门。广泛的影响：更广泛的影响是：(1)在位于亨茨维尔的阿拉巴马大学创建了半导体超快动力学的新研究推动力，(2)通过支持学生光学俱乐部的课外活动，加强了研究和教育的整合，以及(3)通过与当地光学/光子学专业学会的密切合作和广泛的外联活动，在阿拉巴马州北部地区建立光学教育中心。

Objective: The objective of this program is to develop a technology that allows direct measurement of the carrier-envelope phase of ultrafast pulses using semiconductor devices.Intellectual Merit: First, the carrier-envelope phase (CEP) of ultrafast pulses is considered an absolute phase of light as its definition is independent of a second light wave. Finding a low-cost approach to measure CEP would allow this fundamental parameter become widely accessible, hence opening up a new dimension in optical information processing, optical sensing and precision metrology. Second, CEP control is an enabling technology for the emerging atto-science and zepto-science. Accessing such short time scales requires the use of intense few-cycle infrared pulses with precisely tailored field patterns. Such a feat cannot be accomplished without a reliable method to probe the CEP. Current CEP-detection techniques, however, are prohibitively complex and expensive. The proposed research exploits the excellent coherence features offered by semiconductor nanoparticles and aims to develop a semiconductor-based CEP-probing scheme with possible electronic readout, which may eventually open up the access to the atto-second world for most of the researchers around the world.Broader Impacts: The broader impacts are: (1) creating a new research thrust of ultrafast dynamics in semiconductors at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, (2) strengthening the integration of research and education by supporting extracurricular student optics club activities, and (3) building an optics education hub in the northern Alabama region through close collaboration with local optics/photonics professional societies and through a wide range of outreach activities.