The School of Electrical Engineering at Cornell University will purchase a Nd:YAG laser under this NSF Engineering Research Equipment Grant which will be dedicated to support engineering research. The Nd:YAG laser will be installed in a central electro-optics laboratory, and will be used for the following research projects: ultrafast pulse generation for electro-optical device characterization; pumping a tunable color center laser beat frequency generator for frequency characterization of electro-optic devices; exploring new color center defects for possible lasing based on F+2 - like defects in KF and NaF; and exploring lasing in transition-metal-ion bearing crystals such as Cr3+ and Ti3+ doped Forsterite, sapphire, and other likely hosts. Using diffusion, thin-film growth, and ion-implantation, we will explore the feasibility of quickly making and evaluating new optical materials for lasing. The fundamental output line at 1.6 um of the requested Nd:YAG laser will provide the pump source for most of these systems. The second harmonic at 0.532 um will be used to explore the spectroscopy of energy transfer in solids.
