Intense laser-matter interaction and nano-photonics: from fundamentals to devices

在小到十亿分之一米(纳米尺度)的长度尺度上塑造材料的能力正在开辟科学和技术的新前沿。拉蒙诺博士的研究对于理解如何利用强大的激光对材料进行精细而精确的“切割”和其他重组，以制造将导致信息和通信技术和医学等领域进步的微观设备是关键。她的实验室是一台高性能的计算机，她用来精确地模拟强激光对材料的影响。虽然她的长期目标包括玻璃等大宗透明材料，但她正在努力实现这一目标，方法是研究激光对更奇异的材料的影响，例如凝聚的稀有气体原子的微小簇。由于后者有许多类似于透明材料的性质--但更小，因此更容易模拟--研究星团将为理解激光如何重组块状固体提供关键的垫脚石。拉蒙诺博士的计划包括对她目前的计算机代码进行扩展，以处理越来越大的系统，以便首次在设备中模拟材料重组。

The ability to shape materials on length scales as small as a billionth of a metre (the nanoscale) is opening new frontiers in science and technology. Dr. Ramunno's research is key to understanding how powerful lasers can be used to make delicate and precise "cuts" and other restructuring in materials in order to make microscopic devices that will lead to advances in areas such as information and communications technology and medicine. Her laboratory is a high-performance computer with which she uses to accurately simulate the effect of intense lasers on materials. While her longer term goal includes bulk transparent materials such as glass, she is working towards this goal by studying the effect of lasers on more exotic materials such as tiny clusters of condensed noble gas atoms. Since the latter have many properties similar to transparent materials -- but are much smaller and hence easier to simulate -- studying clusters will provide a critical stepping stone to understanding how lasers can restructure bulk solids. Dr. Ramunno's program includes expanding upon her current computer codes to handle systems of larger and larger sizes, in order to simulate material restructuring in devices for the first time.