Picosecond laser for surface spectroscopy

要求资金紧急更换脉冲激光器，这是我的研究计划的主要组成部分，也是与我所有NSERC资助项目（通过Discovery，Engage，CRD，USRA）相关的核心设备。每年平均有10名学生使用这种激光器，每月工作约450小时。这台激光器在过去的14年里一直维护良好，但越来越多的迹象表明它正在老化。它的行为已经导致了重大的研究延误。这是一个紧急请求，在我的研究计划完全失败之前，更换这个关键组成部分。该激光器用于产生在整个中红外区域可调谐的超短光脉冲。它可以对材料表面进行基础研究，特别是矿物（如二氧化硅）或聚合物与水溶液之间的界面。了解这种固-液界面的结构分子对环境和地球化学过程（如岩石风化、侵蚀和污染物迁移）至关重要。DNA微阵列和药物输送等技术依赖于对表面质子化状态和表面电荷的精确控制。聚合物被用于生产我们日常生活中遇到的许多物体。虽然它们的体积特性使它们坚硬或柔韧，透明或不透明，但同样多的注意力用于剪裁它们的表面，以最好地与预期的环境相互作用。例如，丙烯酸等材料广泛用于医疗植入物，因为它们坚固且重量轻，但它们的表面不是天然生物相容的。我们的研究旨在了解聚合物表面如何在纳米尺度上发生变化，当它们被放置在生物液体等液体旁边时。表面改性在纺织品加工中也很重要，因为等离子体处理的纤维增加了对染料的粘附力，大大减少或消除了对工人和环境有害的溶剂的需求。研究带电聚合物表面还可以提高对轻质绝缘体如何承受风化的理解，从而为加拿大城镇提供可靠的架空配电。** 这台设备是一台由要求的皮秒激光驱动的复杂表面分析探头，为学生设计实验提供了许多培训机会，并为所研究的特定表面定制了输出。解释这些实验的结果，以提取所寻求的化学结构信息，往往需要在不同层次上建模和应用先进的数据可视化策略。因此，该设备所实现的实验通过直接的短期应用促进了基础科学，同时培养了下一代科学家和工程师。

Funds are requested to urgently replace a pulsed laser that is the main component of my research program, and is the central piece of equipment associated with all of my NSERC-funded projects (through Discovery, Engage, CRD, USRA). An average of 10 students use this laser each year, and it operates approximately 450 hours each month. This laser has been well-maintained over the past 14 years, but is increasingly showing signs that it is aging. Its behaviour has already resulted in significant research delays. This is an urgent request to replace this critical component of my research program before it fails altogether.******The laser is used to generate ultra-short pulses of light tunable throughout the mid-infrared region. It enables fundamental studies of material surfaces, especially the interface between minerals (such as silica) or polymers and aqueous solutions. Understanding the structure molecules at such solid-liquid interfaces is of critical importance to environmental and geochemical processes such as rock weathering, erosion, and pollutant transport. Technologies such as DNA microarrays and drug delivery rely on precise control of the surface protonation state and surface charge. Polymers are used to produce many of the objects we encounter in our daily life. While their bulk properties make them stiff or pliable, transparent or opaque, an equal amount of attention goes into tailoring their surfaces to best interact with their intended surroundings. For example, materials such as acrylic are widely used in medical implants as they are strong and lightweight, but their surfaces are not naturally biocompatible. Our research seeks to understand how polymer surfaces are altered on the nanometre scale when they are placed next to liquids such as biological fluids. Surface modification is also important in textile processing, as plasma-treated fibres have increased adhesion to dyes, dramatically reducing or eliminating the need for solvents that are harmful for workers and the environment. Studying charged polymer surfaces also leads to improved understanding of how lightweight insulators withstand weathering for reliable overhead power distribution to Canadian towns and cities. ******This piece of equipment, a sophisticated surface analysis probe powered by the requested picosecond laser, provides many training opportunities for students as they design experiments, and tailoring its output for the particular surface under investigation. Interpreting the results of these experiments in order to extract the sought chemical structural information often entails modelling on various levels and the application of advanced data visualization strategies. The experiments enabled by this equipment therefore further fundamental science with direct short-term applications, and simultaneously train the next generation of scientists and engineers.