• Technical Conference:  05 – 10 May 2024
  • The CLEO Hub: 07 – 09 May 2024

SC361 - Coherent Mid-IR Light: Generation and Applications

Monday, 06 May
08:30 - 12:30

Short Course Level: Intermediate

Instructor:

Konstantin Vodopyanov, CREOL, University of Central Florida, USA

Short Course Description:

This course explores various techniques for producing coherent light in the important but challenging mid-IR region (roughly 2–20 µm). It discusses in great detail various modern approaches from various fields of photonics: solid-state lasers based on rare-earth and transition metals, fiber lasers, semiconductor lasers (including intra- and intersubband cascade lasers.), nonlinear optical frequency conversion including difference frequency generators, parametric light generators and amplifiers, supercontinuum generators and Raman converters.

The course evaluates several emerging technologies such as supercontinuum generation in fibers, waveguides and microcavities and producing frequency combs. The course covers the most important mid-IR applications such as medical and defense applications, spectroscopic sensing, nano-IR imaging, X-ray generation and extreme nonlinear optics.

Short Course Benefits:

This course enables you to:

  • Get a clear understanding of modern mid-IR laser sources and understand their principles of operation, advantages and disadvantages
  • Distinguish between different operating modes, from continuous wave to ultrashort mode with several optical cycle durations
  • Discover new applications in the mid-IR range, from biomedicine to trace molecule detection and attosecond physics
Short Course Audience:

Students, academics, researchers and engineers from various disciplines who require a broad introduction to the subject and would like to learn more about the state-of-the-art and upcoming trends in mid-IR development and applications. Undergraduate training in either engineering or science is assumed.

Instructor Biography:

Konstantin Vodopyanov is a world expert in mid-IR lasers, laser-matter interactions, nonlinear optics and laser spectroscopy. He co-edited a book: I.T. Sorokina, K.L. Vodopyanov, “Solid-State Mid-Infrared Laser Sources” (Springer, 2003) and is the author of a new book: K.L. Vodopyanov, “Laser-based mid-infrared sources” (Wiley, 2020), and has both industrial and academic experience.

He is an Endowed Chair & Professor of Optics and Physics at CREOL, the College of Optics & Photonics at the University of Central Florida. His group holds various world records in the field of mid-IR parametric devices and ultra-broadband frequency combs. Vodopyanov is a Fellow of SPIE, OSA, American Physical Society (APS) and the UK Institute of Physics (IOP). He delivered numerous tutorials, invited, keynote and plenary talks at scientific symposia on the subject of mid-IR technology.