9310658 Kolbas The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at North Carolina State University proposes the purchase of a femtosecond/picosecond Ti sapphire pulsed laser system and data acquisition systems. The system will be used to investigate: 1) artificially structured semiconductor materials and nanostructures; 2) high speed integrated circuits, and; 3) wide bandgap semiconductors. The equipment would have an immediate impact and would be used in several existing research projects which include: 1) carrier scattering and phonon participation in semiconductor laser operation; 2) characterization of low temperature (A1)GaAs in Integrated Optoelectronic circuits; 3) time resolved studies of surface emitting lasers, and; 4) time resolved studies of new wide bandgap materials such as SiC and GaN. The addition of this equipment would also make possible future projects in the areas of: 1) ultra-fast semiconductor lasers for high speed interconnects; 2) high speed test and evaluation of digital circuits with clock rates above 1 GHz, and; 3) microcavity lasers and mesoscopic devices. A significant impact on the infrastructure is realized in both the depth and breadth f the proposed research because of the synergy with the existing Optical Characterization Laboratory and the newly formed (NSF funded) Picosecond Digital Systems Laboratory. ***
