This research program will make use of the recently developed femtosecond lasers and optical techniques to study the ultrafast processes in optical materials that have device implications. The objectives are: (1) To measure the intraband relaxation rates of nonequilibrium carriers in compound semiconductors using femtosecond optical correlation spectroscopy, (2) To make a similar study of the relaxation dynamics of hot carriers in multiple quantum well and superlattice structures, (3) To determine the relaxation dynamics of dye molecules that might be suitable for use in femtosecond dye lasers, (4) To extend the wavelenght range of femtosecond optical correlation spectroscopy by including the hot luminescence in the measurements.
