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Breakthrough Brings Laser Light To New Regions Of The Spectrum
Science Daily | National Science Foundation ^ | 2 Jan 2003

Posted on 01/02/2003 5:19:28 PM PST by sourcery

Combining concepts from electromagnetic radiation research and fiber optics, researchers have created an extreme-ultraviolet, laser-like beam capable of producing tightly-focused light in a region of the electromagnetic spectrum not previously accessible to scientists. Between 10-100 times shorter than visible light waves, the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths will allow researchers to "see" tiny features and carve miniature patterns, with applications in such fields as microscopy, lithography and nanotechnology.

The achievement is based on a new structure called a "waveguide," a hollow glass tube with internal humps that coax light waves into traveling along at the same speed and help the waves reinforce each other.

Reported in the January 2 issue of the journal Nature, the work is part of a continuing project supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), an independent agency of the U.S. Government that supports science and engineering research and education.

The new beam has peak powers approaching a megawatt and produces nanometer-scale light waves, yet the entire apparatus fits on a moderately sized table.

Expanding upon earlier work, a team of researchers led by Henry Kapteyn and Margaret Murnane of JILA at the University of Colorado create EUV beams by firing a femtosecond laser through the gas-filled waveguide. A femtosecond is one quadrillionth -- 1/1,000,000,000,000,000 -- of a second, and a brief pulse of the laser can be measured in these tiny units. The intense laser light literally rips the gas atoms apart, resulting in charged ions and electrons. The laser beam then accelerates the electrons to very high energies and slams them back into the ions, releasing electromagnetic radiation (in this instance, photons at EUV wavelengths).

Some of the EUV waves can be out of phase with the laser, canceling each other and weakening the strength and coherence of the output beam. However, by creating ripples in the diameter of the waveguide, the Colorado team coaxed the light waves from the laser and EUV beams into traveling at the same speed (a result called "phase matching").

"These waveguide structures are amazingly simple – just a modulated, hollow glass tube," said Murnane. "It is as if the laser beam 'surfs' on the modulations and is slowed down – just as the speed bumps on the road slow a car down very simply and very effectively," she added.

Slowing down the laser allows it to travel at the same speed as the EUV light and increases the efficiency of the process. The result is a well-synchronized stream of photons firing out of the system -- electromagnetic radiation boosted up to a high-energy, extreme ultraviolet, wavelength.

Unlike some room-sized counterparts, the new, laser-like, EUV source is smaller than any other EUV laser design at these very short wavelengths," said Kapteyn. "The waveguide fiber fits in one hand and the laser fits on a desktop," he added.

Moreover, the peak power of the beam is higher than any other light source at the wavelengths it achieves – all the way from the ultraviolet (UV) to the EUV region of the spectrum around 6 nanometers.

The Colorado group hopes to extend the beam's range into what scientists call the "water-window" -- the region of the spectrum below 4 nanometers where the light is perfect for imaging biological structures. Producing a beam in this region would allow the researchers to build a small microscope for imaging living tissues on a desktop or for viewing objects at the nanoscale.

"In 10 years, laser light will span all the way to the x-ray region of the spectrum," speculated Kapteyn. "The light will be used for the most precise microscopes that we can imagine, allowing real-time movies of the complex dance that atoms weave in chemical reactions and in pharmaceuticals yet to be visualized," he added.

The research was principally supported by NSF, with additional funds from the Department of Energy. JILA is managed by both the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Colorado.

### For additional information, please see:

"Laser-Like Beam May Break Barriers to Technological Progress," NSF Release, http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/02/pr0260.htm

"X-rays light up chemical reactions," PhysicsWeb, July 2001, http://physicsweb.org/article/news/5/7/7

"Powerful Ultrafast Sources get Small," Laser Focus World, August 2001, http://lfw.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=Articles&Subsection=Display&ARTICLE_ID=113661

A profile of Margaret Murnane is available at: http://www.physicscentral.com/people/people-01-4.html

A profile of Henry Kapteyn is available at: http://jilawww.colorado.edu/~kapteyn/

JILA website: http://jilawww.colorado.edu/

For information on light and the electromagnetic spectrum, please see: http://www.howstuffworks.com/light.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote any part of this story, please credit National Science Foundation as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any citation:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/01/030101222126.htm


TOPICS: Technical
KEYWORDS: crevolist; techindex
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1 posted on 01/02/2003 5:19:28 PM PST by sourcery
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To: farmfriend; A tall man in a cowboy hat; Libertarianize the GOP; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
FYI
2 posted on 01/02/2003 5:20:33 PM PST by sourcery
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To: sourcery
But I wanna know when the Pink Floydian application is ready...see you on the dark side of the moon.
3 posted on 01/02/2003 5:22:52 PM PST by Benrand
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To: *tech_index
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list
4 posted on 01/02/2003 5:23:08 PM PST by Libertarianize the GOP
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To: sourcery
The achievement is based on a new structure called a "waveguide,"

Sigh.....

5 posted on 01/02/2003 5:24:43 PM PST by AdamSelene235
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To: AdamSelene235
"The achievement is based on a new structure called a 'waveguide,'"

Sigh.....

If something first discovered in 1894 qualifies as "new", I wonder how far back we'd have to go before the reporter would describe it as "old".

6 posted on 01/02/2003 5:34:16 PM PST by Dan Day
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To: sourcery
The Colorado group hopes to extend the beam's range into what scientists call the "water-window" -- the region of the spectrum below 4 nanometers where the light is perfect for imaging biological structures. Producing a beam in this region would allow the researchers to build a small microscope for imaging living tissues on a desktop or for viewing objects at the nanoscale.

Although it's not like this, we're getting a new Leitz confocal microscope that will be able to use 10 fluors simultaneously and be able to distinguish between the overlapping wavelengths of FITC, GFP, and YFP in the same sample. It'll be so cool to tag more than three proteins in a cell at a time.
7 posted on 01/02/2003 5:40:54 PM PST by aruanan
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To: VadeRetro; jennyp; Junior; longshadow; *crevo_list; RadioAstronomer; Scully; Piltdown_Woman; ...
Laser breakthrough ping.

[This ping list for the evolution -- not creationism -- side of evolution threads, and sometimes for other science topics. To be included, or dropped, let me know via freepmail.]

8 posted on 01/02/2003 5:46:00 PM PST by PatrickHenry
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To: Dan Day
If something first discovered in 1894 qualifies as "new", I wonder how far back we'd have to go before the reporter would describe it as "old".

Fire?

9 posted on 01/02/2003 5:47:54 PM PST by null and void
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To: Dan Day
Ask any microwave technician about tuning wave guides
10 posted on 01/02/2003 5:52:19 PM PST by clamper1797
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To: Dan Day
If something first discovered in 1894 qualifies as "new", I wonder how far back we'd have to go before the reporter would describe it as "old".

Fuel cells are reported about as "new" technology, even though they were also invented in the mid 1800s. As someone else pointed out, we may have to go back to fire to get them to call it an old technology.

I was apprehensive, that the thread would already be full of the anti-government types whining about this "waste of our tax dollars." The research was NSF funded. Oh the unConstituitional horror. (/sarcasm)

11 posted on 01/02/2003 5:54:57 PM PST by Chemist_Geek
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To: sourcery
The new beam has peak powers approaching a megawatt and produces nanometer-scale light waves, yet the entire apparatus fits on a moderately sized table.

Weapons potential? sounds like an awful lot of power in a little package....
12 posted on 01/02/2003 5:58:49 PM PST by Kozak
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To: sourcery
a new structure called a "waveguide,"

LOL!

13 posted on 01/02/2003 5:59:29 PM PST by Yeti
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To: aruanan; Sparta; Mathlete; grundle; beckett; billorites; One More Time; Dominic Harr; ...
Whatcha mean there?

I suppose this would help with smaller circuits too, right?

14 posted on 01/02/2003 6:00:43 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
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To: Yeti; All
ok, I guess i should have read the rest of the article and the other replies before posting.
15 posted on 01/02/2003 6:01:10 PM PST by Yeti
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To: PatrickHenry
Photonic Bandgap Placemarker
16 posted on 01/02/2003 6:16:24 PM PST by BMCDA
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To: Kozak
Weapons potential?

Not likely based on the information here. The key is the phrase "peak power." Since this is a pulsed laser on a femtosecond time scale, it is possible to have enormous peak power but very low average power. How long is the pulse and what is the pulse frequency? One must answer these questions to know how effective it might be as a weapon. I've worked with a "nitrogen laser" pumped tunable dye laser. The pulse durations were on the nanosecond time scale, and peak powers of 100's of kilowatts could be achieved. Average power, however, was in milliwatts, as the laser was "off" most of the time. Very good for doing careful spectroscopy, chemistry, or microscopy, not good for bringing down ICBM's.

17 posted on 01/02/2003 6:19:19 PM PST by Faraday
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To: AdamSelene235
Sigh.....

Well, maybe they cater to those who might confuse the following text with the image.

beams by firing a femtosecond laser through the gas-filled waveguide.

It is a gas-filled guide of some sort.

18 posted on 01/02/2003 6:27:57 PM PST by AndrewC
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To: Dan Day
Actually photonic bandgap structures aren't that old.
If you want you can do a web search for "Eli Yablonovitch" and "PBG".

Also, you may have a look at these links:
http://www.fibre-optics.hw.ac.uk/Projects/mat16.htm
http://www.el.utwente.nl/tdm/ldg/research/pc_dev/pc_dev.htm

19 posted on 01/02/2003 6:28:30 PM PST by BMCDA
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To: sourcery
Moore's Law marches on as always.

(Cole's Law drips on your shirtfront.)
20 posted on 01/02/2003 6:31:27 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed
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