The goal of the proposers is to acquire a composite, ultrafast broadband laser and general purpose detection system to serve the research and teaching goals of UC Merced, the 10th and newest campus in the University of California system. The proposed instruments include (a) a multi-stage cascaded lasing system comprising a solid-state pump and seed laser, a regenerative amplifier and two synchronous optical parametric amplifiers (OPA). Each OPA will provide ultrafast (150 femtosecond width) pulses covering large portions of the ultraviolet, visible, near- and far-infrared spectral regions, and a white light continuum, and (b) detection modules consisting of ultrafast avalanche photodiodes coupled to software controlled time-correlated photon counting electronics, and an imaging spectrograph. This acquisition will be easily reconfigurable for multiple static and dynamic applications such as transient absorption, four-wave mixing, photoluminescence, and magneto-optical Faraday and Kerr measurements, among others. The broad spectral tunability of the laser system coupled with its high temporal resolution provides enormous flexibility to support a wide variety of experimental research across several disciplines, including condensed matter, optics, bioengineering and biophysics. Some topics to be covered are studies of electron and atomic spin polarization and coherence times in semiconductors and insulators; opto-electronic dynamics of individual high-purity carbon nanotubes and intertube energy transfer mechanisms; radiative excitonic lifetimes using four wave mixing in organic-semiconductor liquid crystal composites; photoisomerization on surfaces to enable single molecules to perform sophisticated tasks necessary for molecular scale devices; pulsed light propagation through novel optical fibers; two-photon absorption analysis of nonlinear optical responses of conjugated organic chromophores; and dynamics of actin during phagocytosis using two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy. The proposers have well-defined plans for integrating this proposed acquisition into education, synchronized with the growth of this new campus. A Nanotechnology minor for undergraduates has been planned and is to be offered starting in Fall 2009. The planned curriculum for this minor includes optical characterization of synthesized nanomaterials as an important part of its laboratory component. An upper division laboratory course is also being designed for the Physics major to be offered for the first time in Spring 2009, in which there is a extensive optics component. In addition, the location of UC Merced, with its high underrepresented student population, offers a means to attract and retain underrepresented students to science and technology and several PIs and co-PIs are involved in outreach programs.
Optical techniques provide a means to both interrogate and manipulate properties of organic and inorganic materials over a broad range of energy and time scales. We propose the acquisition of a highly versatile laser and detection system that will allow researchers across several disciplines to perform a wide variety of optical and opto-electronic experiments and hence serve the research and teaching goals of UC Merced, the 10th and newest campus of University of California. Systems which will be investigated include semiconductors, exotic magnets, nanotubes, quantum dots, liquid crystals and biomolecules. These studies constitute highly interdisciplinary projects and will benefit a large number of graduate students across chemistry, physics, materials science and electrical engineering. Additionally, the PIs have well-defined plans for integrating this proposed acquisition into education, synchronized with the growth of this new campus. A Nanotechnology minor for undergraduates has been planned and is to be offered starting in Fall 2009. The planned curriculum for this minor includes optical characterization of synthesized nanomaterials as an important part of its laboratory component. An upper division laboratory course is also being designed for the Physics major to be offered for the first time in Spring 2009, in which there is a extensive optics component.
