Ultrafast optics bags millions

17 Jun 2002

New US optics center wins USD 15 million to advance research in optical coherent and ultrafast science.

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded USD 15 million to the University of Michigan to set up a multi-disciplinary optics center. Called Frontiers in Optical Coherent and Ultrafast Science (FOCUS), the center will unite researchers from different fields to drive optical physics forward.

"We're looking at areas that cover a tremendous range of scientific disciplines," said FOCUS director Philip Bucksbaum. "But while they seem very different, the one thing they have in common is the need for a high degree of control, usually through ultrafast lasers."

Work in the center will focus on the areas of high-field, ultrafast and quantum control. High-field control research will include intense-laser development, laser-driven plasma and cluster physics. Potential applications include medicine, nuclear science and astrophysics.

Studies in ultrafast control aim to advance optical pulse sculpting and molecular manipulation with lasers. This area could also find use in semiconductors, controlling phonons in crystals and modulating X-rays. Research into the area of quantum control is expected to fuel quantum information processing.

FOCUS includes 19 scientists from the universities of Michigan and Texas, who, according to Buckshaum, have a clear goal to share knowledge.

"Many of the leading researchers in high-field, ultrafast and quantum physics are already at these two schools," he said. "That certainly helped our case with the NSF."