This Major Research Infrastructure acquisition at the University of New Mexico supports an upgrade of an ultrafast laser facility. The grant will provide a laser amplifier system which will produce two millijoule pulses of infrared light in 25 femtosecond pulses at a repetition rate of 1 kilohertz. The grant also will provide support for the purchase of a optical parametric generator, which will allow tunable pulses in the infrared, visible, and ultraviolet region of the spectrum with similar pulse duration and repetition rate to be produced. The equipment will primarily support research in two areas, measurement of the dynamics in scintillator detectors and measurements of the response of dielectric thin films to ultrashort high-power light pulses. Additional research with the laser in collaboration with additional faculty in the areas of biological imaging, field-emission microscopy, and measurements of engineered nanostructures. The acquisition will improve the university of New Mexico's competitiveness in all of these areas.
The broader impacts involve education and training to undergraduates and graduate students in optical physics from both the Physics program and the Optical Science and Engineering program as well as from additional academic fields.
