Facilities
The ultrafast facility (Sharp 012) consists of 750 sq. ft of laboratory space.
Laser system
The backbone of the ultrafast laser lab is a Spectra-Physics XP laser system, capable of producing 2+mJ, 40fs, 800nm pulses at a 1kHz repetition rate. We have also built a cryogenically cooled power amplifier with the capabilities of generating 5+mJ pulses at 1kHz.
Pulsed X-ray Source
For time-resolved x-ray diffraction measurements we have constructed a pulsed x-ray source based upon ultrafast plasma generation in a solid copper target. The x-ray source can generate greater than hard x-ray photons per second radiation, with a sub-picosecond x-ray pulse width. To detect the radiation, we use a combination of a custom made polycappilary x-ray optics (XOS systems) with a direct detection, liquid nitrogen cooled x-ray CCD camera.
