FOCUS 

Photonics is emerging as a multidisciplinary new frontier of science and technology, and is capturing the imagination of scientists and engineers worldwide because of its potential applications to many areas of present and future information and image-processing technologies. Photonics is the analog of electronics because it describes the technology in which photons instead of electrons are used to acquire, store, transmit, and process information. Nonlinear optics provide key operational functions needed for the implementation of photonics technology. Our Photonics Research Laboratory is engaged in multidisciplinary research in the field of photonics and nonlinear optics. It has excellent research facilities for a comprehensive multidisciplinary research program and features state-of-the-art instrumentation.

SELECTED PROJECTS

• Preparation, processing, and theoretical modeling of photonic materials
• Nonlinear optical effects in organic polymers
• Laser-induced ultrafast processes in the condensed phase
• Nanostructured and multifunctional materials
• Microstructure and dynamics within sol-gel-processed organic/inorganic hybrid materials
• Multiphoton processes and their applications to photodynamic cancer therapy
• Fluorescence imaging and three-dimensional optical data storage

PUBLICATIONS

• G. S. He, L. Yuan, Y. Cui, M. Li, and P. N. Prasad. Studies of two-photon pumped frequency-upconverted lasing properties of a new dye material. J. Appl. Phys. 81:2529 (1997).
• P. N. Prasad. Excitation dynamics in organic molecules, solids, fullerenes, and polymers. In Spectroscopy and Dynamics of Collective Excitation in Solids, R. DiBartolo ed., (Plenum Press, NY, 1977) p. 203.
• G. Ruland, R. Gvishi, and P. N. Prasad. Multiphasic nanostructured composites: Multidye tunable solid-state laser. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 118:2985 (1996).
• J. D. Bhawalkar, G. S. He, and P. N. Prasad. Nonlinear multiphoton processes in organic and polymeric materials. Rep. Progress of Physics 59:1041 (1996).
• C. F. Zhao, C. K. Park, P. N. Prasad, Y. Zhang, S. Ghosal, and R. Burzynski. Photorefractive polymer with side-chain second-order nonlinear optical and charge-transporting groups. Chem. Mater. 7:1237 (1995).

Fig. 1 Three-dimensional optical storage of a Bugs Bunny movie frame at 5µm apart in depth.

Fig. 2 Two photon-induced fluorescence from nanostructured polymers of increasing conjugation length (from left).