Applied Physics Seminar

The concept of multidimensional coherent spectroscopy originated in NMR where it enabled the determination of molecular structure.  Migrating this method to the infrared and visible regimes is difficult because of the need to obtain full phase information about the emitted signal and for the phase difference between the excitation pulses to be stable and precisely incremented. I will give an introduction to optical two-dimensional coherent spectroscopy, using an atomic vapor as simple test system, and then present our use of it to study optical resonances in semiconductor nanostructures.

About the Cundiff Research Group:

The general area of ultrafast optics is our primary research interest. Our research areas include the use of ultrafast pulses to study light-matter interactions, as well as their production and manipulation. Our primary tool for studying light-matter interaction is multidimensional coherent spectroscopy, which we are currently applying to both semiconductor nanostructures and atomic vapors. We are working on developing a new type of mode-locked fiber laser to produce ultrafast pulses and on manipulating them by pushing pulse-shaping techniques to their ultimate limit in terms of spectral resolution.