• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Friday, March 31, 2023
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Versatile optical laser will enable innovative experiments at atomic-scale measurements

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
December 12, 2016
in Science News
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

WASHINGTON — The European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL) facility, near Hamburg, Germany, was built with one objective — to provide pulses of light short enough, bright enough, and of small enough wavelength to observe processes that would otherwise be too fast and/or too infrequent to measure in real-time.

Without such ultrashort pulses — and this means millionths of billionths of a second long (femtoseconds) — measurements are limited to a before-and-after look at molecular interactions. Six different end-stations will be available for scientists from across the globe to conduct experiments using the XFEL beam once it is fully functioning in 2017.

In order to make these measurements, the research team developed a high-power, pulsed, optical laser that is synchronized with the XFEL pulses and tunable in both wavelength and pulse duration to accommodate the needs of each of the six different experiments being conducted. The features of this versatile optical laser system will be published in a paper in the journal Optics Express, from The Optical Society (OSA).

"The real uniqueness of our laser lies in the fact that it matches the burst emission pattern of the European XFEL," said Max J. Lederer, lead scientist, XFEL. "It therefore enables experiments at the highest possible pulse rate of the XFEL with optical pulse parameters (energy, pulse duration) only obtainable at low repetition rates from Ti:Sapphire systems."

These days, finding an optical laser capable of producing ultrashort pulses for research, such as a titanium-sapphire (Ti:Sapph) laser, isn't difficult. But finding such a laser that can match the power and timing specifications of the six XFEL experiments is difficult. "In other words, it's the high repetition rate and average power during the bursts that make the difference," Lederer said.

But why would a facility built to house one of the largest and most advanced lasers, need another laser? In fact, this additional laser system is an integral part of performing the projected atomic-scale measurements. The optical laser pulses serve to prepare samples, using the interaction with it as the first step, in some sense as a control, before using the x-ray pulse to probe and investigate the unknown dynamics. It is mainly the "pump" part of the pump-probe experiments the laser is designed to perform.

"The laser system is [built] to satisfy the need for an experimental optical pump-probe laser, synchronized and adapted to the emission pattern of the European XFEL. The laser will typically activate samples, followed by probing with the X-ray pulses," Lederer said.

The need for tunability of the pump laser comes from each of the six scientific stations housing different experiments that investigate various sample types and phases of matter. The optical laser provides this configurability via a number of optical techniques that harness light-matter interactions to result in the precise energy and timing of the pulses needed.

One example of such a process is called parametric conversion which refers to the conversion of one particle of light into two of half the energy, or vice versa. "For enhanced experimental flexibility, the spectral range from UV to THz will be made available through parametric conversion and THz-generation schemes," Lederer said.

Installation of the first laser has already begun and Lederer and his team look ahead to the exciting capabilities of the facility. Lederer said, "We are of course keen to meet the deadline to deliver the 'first photon' together with the XFEL. Personally, I'm keen on seeing the laser utilized in as many scientific discoveries as possible in the future."

###

PAPER: M. Pergament, G. Palmer, M. Kellert, K. Kruse, J. Wang, L. Wissmann, U. Wegner, M. Emons, D. Kane, G. Priebe, S. Venkatesan, T. Jezynski, F. Pallas, and M. J. Lederer, "Versatile optical laser system for experiments at the European X-ray free-electron laser facility," Opt. Express 24, 29349-29359 (2016). DOI: 10.1364/OE.24.029349

About Optics Express

Optics Express reports on new developments in all fields of optical science and technology every two weeks. The journal provides rapid publication of original, peer-reviewed papers. It is published by The Optical Society and edited by Andrew M. Weiner of Purdue University. Optics Express is an open-access journal and is available at no cost to readers online at: OSA Publishing.

About The Optical Society

Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and entrepreneurs who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the science of light. Through world-renowned publications, meetings and membership initiatives, OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts. For more information, visit osa.org/100.

Media Contacts:
Rebecca B. Andersen
The Optical Society
[email protected]
+1 202.416.1443

Joshua Miller
The Optical Society
[email protected]
+1 202.416.1435

Research Contact:
Max J. Lederer
[email protected]

Media Contact

Joshua Miller
[email protected]
202-416-1435
@opticalsociety

http://www.osa.org

############

Story Source: Materials provided by Scienmag

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

High-performance transparent-flexible electronic devices based on copper-graphene nanowire

DGIST Professor Yoonkyu Lee’s research team has developed a high-performance transparent-flexible electronic device based on a copper-graphene nanowire synthesized by scintillation

March 31, 2023
2023 DGIST Commencement

DGIST held a graduation ceremony for the first half of 2023 (Feb.)

March 31, 2023

Do we understand the flickering flames?

March 31, 2023

Can we connect to a virtual world as in the movie “The Matrix”? Microrobot technology has been developed for externally connecting in vivo neural networks.

March 31, 2023
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • ChatPandaGPT

    Insilico Medicine brings AI-powered “ChatPandaGPT” to its target discovery platform

    67 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • Northern and southern resident orcas hunt differently, which may help explain the decline of southern orcas

    44 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 11
  • Skipping breakfast may compromise the immune system

    43 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11
  • Extinction of steam locomotives derails assumptions about biological evolution

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

DGIST Professor Yoonkyu Lee’s research team has developed a high-performance transparent-flexible electronic device based on a copper-graphene nanowire synthesized by scintillation

DGIST held a graduation ceremony for the first half of 2023 (Feb.)

Do we understand the flickering flames?

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 48 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In