{"612386":{"#nid":"612386","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Chirped Pulse Amplification of Lasers ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nobelprize.org\/prizes\/physics\/2018\/press-release\/\u0022\u003E2018 Nobel Prize in Physics\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;recognizes two breakthroughs that revolutionized laser physics. Chirped pulse amplification of lasers is one of them. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.polytechnique.edu\/annuaire\/en\/users\/gerard.mourou\u0022\u003EG\u0026eacute;rard Mourou\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003Eand\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/uwaterloo.ca\/physics-astronomy\/people-profiles\/donna-strickland\u0022\u003EDonna Strickland\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003Eshare one-half of the prize for paving the way toward the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created by humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe winners solved an important problem: how to amplify short laser pulses to high energies without damaging the materials used for amplification.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEvers since lasers were invented, researchers have tried to create ever shorter and more intense pulses. That\u0026rsquo;s because short, intense laser pulses can do lots of interesting things, like accelerate charged particles or knock out electrons from molecules.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;There are a host of applications in basic scientific research that depend on femtosecond lasers, including time-resolved studies,\u0026rdquo; says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/user\/chandra-raman\u0022\u003EChandra Raman\u003C\/a\u003E, an associate professor in the School of Physics.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EBut ramping up the intensity destroys the amplifying material.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Laser and laser-amplifier media are more easily damaged by high-intensity laser light than are standard optics such as prisms and mirrors,\u0026rdquo; says \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.physics.gatech.edu\/user\/rick-trebino\u0022\u003ERick Trebino\u003C\/a\u003E, a professor in the School of Physics. \u0026ldquo;They limit the possible intensity achievable.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMourou and Strickland solved the problem by first stretching the laser pulses in time, then amplifying them, and finally compressing them. That treatment enabled a pulse to pack much more light in the same space. \u0026ldquo;Amplifiers based on this idea yield thousands of times more pulse energy,\u0026rdquo; Trebino says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESince the breakthrough \u0026ndash; now called chirped pulse amplification (CPA)\u0026nbsp;\u0026ndash; many generations of scientists have used the tool in research, Raman says. CPA also facilitated the spread of high-power lasers in industry and medicine, including targeted laser surgery and specialized cutting of materials with minimal heating of the surroundings.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;CPA is a clear example of a scientific breakthrough whose influence goes far beyond the field where it originated,\u0026rdquo; Raman says.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ERaman encountered first-generation CPA systems when he was a Ph.D. student studying the electron dynamics of special atoms. He had to build his own system, one that could generate superfast, high-intensity, femtosecond pulses. A femtosecond is one-quadrillionth of a second.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe home-built femtosecond system occupied two optical tables. \u0026ldquo;The alignments were a bit delicate and finicky, and it was sometimes frustrating getting them exactly right,\u0026rdquo; Raman says. \u0026ldquo;But it opened my eyes to how clever and specialized tools can open a vista to fundamental science. I had fun.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;Because of CPA, much higher laser intensities are now being generated in research labs worldwide, giving access to any color imaginable through nonlinear optics,\u0026rdquo; Trebino says. \u0026ldquo;The European Union is now building the highest intensity laser systems ever, which could lead to new discoveries of exotic physics.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn Georgia Tech, Raman studies the fundamental behavior of atoms at much longer timescales \u0026ndash; in milliseconds or seconds rather than femtoseconds. For this work, the tools are different from the femtosecond laser he built as a Ph.D. student. Still, he says, \u0026ldquo;the tinkering I did with the CPA laser shaped my current research to bring out interesting properties of atoms.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe other half of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics goes to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/optical-tweezers-stuff-science-fiction\u0022\u003Eoptical tweezers\u003C\/a\u003E. Using laser beams, these tools grab particles, atoms, viruses, and living cell and enable their inspection and manipulation under a microscope. \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/history.aip.org\/phn\/11409018.html\u0022\u003EArthur Ashkin\u003C\/a\u003E, formerly of Bell Labs, receives half of the 2018 prize for this invention.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Georgia Tech physicists explain one of two inventions honored by the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech physicists Chandra Raman and Rick Trebino explain the other half of the the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics: chirped pulse amplification\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech physicists explain one of two inventions honored by the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. "}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2018-10-05 13:37:05","changed_gmt":"2018-10-05 16:11:03","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2018-10-05T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2018-10-05T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"612382":{"id":"612382","type":"image","title":"Inventors of chirped pulse amplification (Courtesy of Nobel Media)","body":null,"created":"1538745818","gmt_created":"2018-10-05 13:23:38","changed":"1538745818","gmt_changed":"2018-10-05 13:23:38","alt":"","file":{"fid":"233110","name":"2018 Nobel Physics Mourou.Strickand.small_.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Nobel%20Physics%20Mourou.Strickand.small_.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Nobel%20Physics%20Mourou.Strickand.small_.png","mime":"image\/png","size":170082,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2018%20Nobel%20Physics%20Mourou.Strickand.small_.png?itok=Ql9ZlrFb"}},"612383":{"id":"612383","type":"image","title":"Chandra Raman","body":null,"created":"1538745871","gmt_created":"2018-10-05 13:24:31","changed":"1538745871","gmt_changed":"2018-10-05 13:24:31","alt":"","file":{"fid":"233111","name":"2018 Chandra Raman.sq250.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Chandra%20Raman.sq250.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Chandra%20Raman.sq250.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":46144,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2018%20Chandra%20Raman.sq250.jpg?itok=HEKPSxDV"}},"612384":{"id":"612384","type":"image","title":"Rick Trebino","body":null,"created":"1538745908","gmt_created":"2018-10-05 13:25:08","changed":"1538745908","gmt_changed":"2018-10-05 13:25:08","alt":"","file":{"fid":"233112","name":"2018 Rick Trebino.sq250.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Rick%20Trebino.sq250.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/2018%20Rick%20Trebino.sq250.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":38176,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/2018%20Rick%20Trebino.sq250.jpg?itok=JzQARvH7"}}},"media_ids":["612382","612383","612384"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/optical-tweezers-stuff-science-fiction","title":"Optical Tweezers \u2013 The Stuff of Science Fiction"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/harnessing-power-evolution","title":"Harnessing the Power of Evolution"},{"url":"https:\/\/cos.gatech.edu\/news\/georgia-tech-researchers-reflect-2018-nobel-prize-physiology-or-medicine","title":"Georgia Tech Researchers Reflect on the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine"}],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}