Speaker: Jeffrey Moses, Cornell University
Program Description:
Optical nonlinearities greatly expand the toolset for photon science, allowing amplification and frequency conversion methods that expand the reach of photon sources. However, spatiotemporal and spectral inhomogeneities in nonlinear optical systems can severely hamper the efficiency and bandwidth of power flow between waves. Our group seeks ways to 'trick' nonlinear systems into modes of evolution that can avoid the normal limiting behaviors, with familiar physics that are somewhat foreign to optical light pulses. I’ll present new technologies these tricks are enabling, including efficient parametric amplifiers and dispersion-free octave-spanning frequency up- and down-converters, and briefly mention some of the science we intend to use them for, including study of coherent phonon coupling and ultrafast nonadiabatic dynamics.
