9500106 Ducharme The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Nebraska will purchase a pulsed laser system for us with several research projects. The proposed pulsed laser system consists of: 1) a commercial Q-switched Nd:YAG pump laser and second harmonic generator, 2) a custom narrow bandwidth pulsed dye laser, and 3) an optical table, detectors, and optical elements suitable for use with high power lasers. The pulsed laser system will be used to conduct dynamical measurements on a much shorter time scale (equal to or greater than 5 ns) than is possible with our CW lasers (equal to or greater that 1 ms), extending the scope of several research projects. These projects include: 1) Dynamical studies of photorefractive polymers elucidating charge generation, trapping, and transport processes, 2) All-optical modulation caused by combined pyroelectric and electro-optic response in pyroelectric materials in the sub- microsecond time scale during which the pyroelectric effects are dominant, 3) Dynamical response of the photorefractive nonlinear Fabry-Perot etalon which exhibits intensity dependent asymmetric transmission and may exhibit optical bistability, 4) Spectroscopy and dynamics of modulated absorption in photorefractive materials to obtain energies, lifetimes, cross sections, and other information concerning ("deep" and "shallow") traps, and 5) Nonlinear optical effects on polymer/crystal nanocomposites. ***
