Request for Funds for the Purchase of a Broadly Tunable Ti:Sapphire Laser for Research in High-Density Optical Memory

摘要

Funds amounting to $155,782 were used for the purchase of a Coherent 900-F tunable Ti:sapphire laser system with a Verdi 10 pump laser in conjunction with matching funds from Boston College. The total cost of the laser system was $191,500. The system was successfully installed during the project period and is currently being used to study how the efficiency of data storage and retrieval depends on the wavelength of light employed. The objective of this project was to acquire a broadly tunable Ti:sapphire laser system and associated optics for the spectroscopic study of optical data storage in molecular glasses and highly cross linked polymer. The purpose of the broadly tunable laser system is to be able to vastly increase the college's capability for characterizing data storage materials. The only truly viable technique for analyzing the products is performing in-situ spectroscopy on the product in femtoliter volumes. This requires a highly sensitive detection system, which the college has, as well as the ability to tune the writing and readout laser sources. It is the latter capability that was provided by the laser system purchased under this grant. The idea is to be able to map out the three-photon excitation spectrum of the storage materials and to map out the two-photon excitation spectrum of the photoproduct. This will not only assist in the spectroscopic determination of the identity of the product species, but also allow the college to optimize the storage and readout processes. Now they can find the optimum wavelength for rapid data storage with three-photon excitation, or look for a wavelength at which readout can be accomplished with two photons. The combination of the new laser system and the existing one in the author's laboratory provides the capability to write data at one wavelength and then read them immediately at another. (3 figures).