Presentations

    Physics in the (ultra)fast lane: femtosecond laser-induced dynamics in solids, at OSA Annual Meeting (Baltimore, MD), Thursday, October 1, 1998
    We developed a broadband ultrafast technique to measure a material's dielectric function (from near-UV to near-IR) with 100-fs time resolution. This technique enables identification of phase changes following intense laser excitation. We will present data for semiconductors and discuss future experiments to study plasma generation dynamics in transparent materials.
    Quick as a Flash: Observing Ultrafast Laser-Induced Dynamics in Semiconductors, at Physics Colloquium, University of Massachusetts at Lowell (Lowell, MA), Wednesday, April 21, 1999:
    We track laser-induced phase changes in materials on ultrafast time scales by measuring the material's dielectric function (from near-UV to near-IR) with 100-fs time resolution. Experiments on GaAs excited with intense femtosecond pulses reveal details of the ultrafast electron and lattice dynamics at large excited carrier densities. Future experiments will use our technique to measure the plasma dynamics during femtosecond laser-induced breakdown of transparent materials, a process which has been shown to have several potential applications in micro-machining and data storage.