The objectives of this program are to investigate fiber lasers that support new pulse evolutions in their cavities, and to use the knowledge gained to demonstrate practical instruments with unprecedented performance.
Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit is in understanding of new nonlinear waves. The field of ultrafast science has been built on lasers based on formation of solitons, pulses that balance phase shifts with anomalous group-velocity dispersion. In the last few years, pulse-shaping based on nonlinear gain and loss, in normal-dispersion media, has been introduced. This approach is transformative as it counters two decades of conventional wisdom regarding the generation of light pulses. Lasers with self-similar propagation of light pulses in their gain media exhibit new phenomena, such as the existence of local nonlinear attraction in a laser. The self-similar evolution opens new routes to lasers with very low noise and to lasers that generate pulses that contain only a few cycles of light.
Broader Impacts: The broader impacts are the demonstration of useful (and eventually commercial) instruments with new capabilities for energetic, ultra-short light pulses. These instruments will expand the field of ultra-fast science and will bring short-pulse capabilities to new arenas such as medical clinics. Students will gain experience ranging from theory and numerical simulations to technical aspects of fiber optics and knowledge of applications of ultra-short light pulses. The research on fiber lasers will be coupled to undergraduate and graduate laboratories. Participation in activities sponsored by 4-H will expose rural students to science and technology.
