Welcome!
Welcome to my webpage. Here you will be able to view my vitae and stay up-to-date with my current projects. Feel free to contact me via the link in the menu.
James
Home from FiO/DLS XXIV
I returned Tuesday from the conference in Rochester, NY at which I presented the Laser Spectroscopy Lab's research on Remote LIBS on behalf of the University of Central Florida, the College of Optics and Photonics (CREOL), and Townes Laser Institute (see earlier post). My presentation was before many distinguished professors from MIT, Cal Berkely, U. of Maryland, Stony Brook, RIT, and many others, including two Nobel Laureates, Dr. Charles Townes and Dr. Nicolaas Bloembergen. I have pictures from the conference that I would like to post, as well as a few from the lab. I'm still having issues posting pictures with this site. Stay tuned for more updates.
Frontiers in Optics and Division of Laser Science Conference XXIV
I leave Saturday for the FiO/DLS conference in Rochester, NY. My presentation will be on "Towards a more efficient stand-off LIBS detection of Organic Materials." For the experiment we shot copper, graphite, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) at intervals ranging to 30 meters using a nanosecond Nd:YAG laser. Amazingly, we were able to see a carbon(I) spectral line (248nm) at 30 meters using a time delay of 200-us, slightly lower than the peak output of the laser. LIBS, for those of you not familiar with the term, is laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Our Laser Spectroscopy Laboratory at UCF uses several types of lasers to create plasmas on targets. By doing so, we are able to analyze the light to determine the composition of the target. This current experiment developed a remote detection system to gather and analyze light from samples at long distances. Previously, we used a Nd:YAG nanosecond laser to produce plasmas (ns-LIBS), however, we will begin testing with a high-intensity femtosecond Ti:Sapphire laser after the conference (fs-LIBS). The Ti:Sapph creates filaments which are more stable and requires a constant amount of power at longer distances allowing for the same plasma intensity on every shot, unlike a ns-LIBS laser. Also, just an update, I am unable to load pictures on to my page right now, but I'm hoping to fix this problem soon.
Preparing for FiO Conference and beyond
Over the past couple weeks, I helped prepare the Laser Spectroscopy team for the International LIBS conference in Berlin. Since then, I have been researching portable interferometers, streak cameras and preparing for the Frontiers in Optics conference next month in Rochester, NY. My presentation will be on the applications of remote detection for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy experiments. Currently, I'm finishing the report for this project, however, the experiment will continue. We are planning to test our stand-off detection system at a range of 50 meters using a Ti:Sapph femtosecond laser. (For prior testing we used a Nd:YAG nanosecond laser at a range up to 30 meters.) In addition, I will post some new pictures within the next couple weeks.
Lab Images
These are a few photos I took in the lab a couple weeks ago. The first three images show the system's lenses and the laser in normal, thermal, and x-ray views. The final two images show one of the parabolic mirrors characterized using this system.
Normal Image - This is a general image of the system used to characterize parabolic mirrors. The laser beam is reflected 45 degrees off a mirror, passes through a 20x microscope objective, then passes through a 100-micron pinhole, and finally is collimated to 2-3/8" at the final lens.
Thermal Image - Looking closely, there is a small yellow "dot" in the lens. This is the laser beam passing through the lens.
X-Ray Image - Much like the thermal image, looking closely at the center of the image there is a small black "dot" in the lens. This is the laser beam passing through the lens.
Normal Image - This is one of the parabolic mirrors used in the system shown in earlier photos.
Thermal Image - The same mirror is shown here as a thermal image. The mirror itself was quite cool, so the heat signatures that can be see are actually reflections of the laptop in the background.
More Lab Photos
Here are a couple more pictures from the lab. I shouldn't have to say this, but NEVER look directly into a laser beam.
The first picture shows the laser (bottom left corner) and the path of the beam. The beam reflects off the mirror, passes through the microscope objective, then passes through 100-micron pinhole. Finally, the beam passes through a lens, in which the beam is successfully expanded and collimated to 2.375" +/- .002".
This image shows the final lens the beam will pass through. The lens is red because the laser is on and is beam is passing through the lens.
Here the camera is looking directly into the path of the laser. The image was taken at the final lens, which is visible as a faint curvature in the picture.
This image shows the collimated laser "shooting" across the room. The door in the background, where the laser hits, is about 20+/- feet from the laser. The beam that is visible on the door is actually 2.375" in diameter.