9413989 FAUCHET We propose to assemble, through instrumentation acquisition and development, a versatile femtosecond laser system dedicated to research on advanced materials, high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices and circuits, and ultra-high bit rate optical communication systems. The facility is based on a titanium sapphire (Ti:S) laser oscillator and amplifier system, which generates pulses of less than 100 femtosecond duration tunable form 750 nm to 1000 nm, either at a repetition rate of 100 MHz and level of 10 nJ per pulse, or at a repetition rate of 1 kHz and level of 1 mJ per trains tunable to near 5 um at a level of 1 nJ per pulse, and optical parametric amplifier capable of generating 1 kHz-100 fsec pulse trains tunable in the same range but at a level of better than 10 uJ per pulse, a femtosecond white light continuum generation station and a terahertz generator, capable of producing electromagnetic radiation form near dc to more than 10 THz. This one-of-a-kind laser facility is at the cutting edge of the most modern femtosecond laser technology. As such, part of it will be acquired form a company that specializes in this kind of equipment, and another part will be designed, built and tested by us. This facility will be operated by five primary users with backgrounds in applied physics, electrical engineering, plasma physics and optics, who are the co-principal investigators, already have established successful joint research efforts, and have ample experience with and are committed to ultra fast technology, process and devices. The scope of the research to be conducted using the new facility runs from device and circuit testing to basic nonlinear physical phenomena in condensed matter, and form semiconductors to superconductors and polymers. The common them is the need for high peak power femtosecond laser pulses tunable form the visible to the mid-infrared, which this for facility will provide. Examples of projects include nonlinear materials and devices f or the 3 to 5 um region and enhancement of optical nonlinearities via quantum interference, testing of microelectronics circuits using an electro-optic imager, design and testing of ultra-wide-band optical repeaters for fiber communications, ultra fast processes and development of photodetectors in high-temperature superconductors, and high order harmonic generation. Funding of this facility by the National Science Foundation will boost the activities of the active ultra fast community at the University of Rochester. The leadership of the Rochester group in the area of application of ultra fast lasers to the study of materials and the development and testing of devices relevant to advanced materials and high-performance communication will be renewed and reemphasized through access to the most state-of-the-art equipment. As a result, other researchers, forma the University of Rochester and local companies such as Kodak, Xerox and Clark-MXR with which we have had long-lasting collaborations, will be encouraged to use the facility. In addition, the quality and diversity of the graduate students and post-doctoral students attracted to our facility will be maintained and improved.
