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Welcome to the homepage of the Laser Dynamics Laboratory (LDL), a
research laboratory launched in 1996 at the Georgia
Institute of Technology. The scientists at the LDL use the latest in
laser analytical and time-resolved techniques to study how photons interact
with materials of all types. The Laser Dynamics Laboratory provides a
shared resource for research, encourages collaborations across disciplines,
and facilitates the use of laser spectroscopic techniques in new areas of
study. The laboratory was formally inaugurated with a
symposium and open house in late November 1996.
Professor
El-Sayed, the director of the LDL and Regents Professor, holds the Julius
Brown Chair in chemistry. The funds for establishing the facility came from
Georgia Institute of Technology and a National Science Foundation grant.
Professor El-Sayed said, "we are establishing
collaborative programs in many research areas in which lasers interface with
materials. We know about photons and what they will do. We want to extend
that knowledge into other applications that are helpful to us and to other
researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology. This combination of
expertise from different areas can lead to many new developments." Part of Georgia Tech's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry,
the Laser Dynamics Laboratory operates a series of laser systems and related
analytical equipment configured for use in spectroscopic techniques. The
equipment can study phenomena that take place in as short a time scale as 100
femtoseconds - the amount of time required for light to travel the width of a
human hair - and as long as seconds. Such laser-spectroscopic techniques can be
used to investigate a wide range of phenomena including the dynamics of
molecular dissociation, energy relaxation and transformation, protein
folding, and electron and energy transport in various materials ranging from
nanoparticles to disordered solids and to photoactive biological systems. The research group in LDL is investigating
many new properties of nanoparticles of different types, shapes, and
composition. In addition, application of these properties to nanomedicine,
nanocatalysis, and nanophotonics are being examined. The LDL would be of interest to researchers
studying the detailed structural changes in molecules or materials following
linear or non-linear laser excitation in the 100 femtosecond to millisecond
time domain. The laser-induced changes can be followed by observing the
optical absorption, fluorescence, Raman or infrared spectra of the
transients. At Georgia Tech, this facility boosts existing
research into the properties of optical, electro-optical and non-linear
optical materials -- key technologies in developing new generations of fast
optical switches, new memory devices, and techniques useful in interfacing
high-bandwidth optical systems to computers. We hope you enjoy exploring our LDL web page,
Prof. Dr. M.A. El-Sayed, Director.
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