Facilities:
LASE currently has the facilities for all aspects of nanophotonics research from materials synthesis to device fabrication to comprehensive characterization facilities.
Professor Cartwright’s research group occupies over 3000 ft2 of research space within the UB north campus Bonner Hall (room 116, 117, 118, and 119) and Fronczak Hall (room 204 and 224). This space consists of a suite of ultrafast and linear laser spectroscopy, optical metrology, laser application, and material processing and characterization laboratories, and office space for over 15 students and postdocs.
1. Optical Instrument and Laser Facilities
We have all the experimental apparati to use CW and time-resolved techniques in interferometry and spectrosopic studies including:
- Linear Absorption and Reflection
- Moire interferometry
- CW Photoluminscence
- Time-resolved Photoluminescence
- Time-resolved Pump-probe Spectroscopy: Differential Transmission and Reflection
- Transient Grating Measurements
Below is a listing of the various facilities optical facilities that we have:
- Coherent ultrafast laser system.
This system consists of a CW diode pumped solid state laser (Verdi V18, 532 nm, 18W, single frequency), a Ti:Sapphire mode-locked laser (Coherent Mira 900), a regerative amplifier (Coherent Rega 9000), a visible and an infrared optical parametric amplifier (Coherent OPA 9400 and 9800), a Uniwave femtosecond trippler, and multiple home-made frequency doublers. This laser system provides femtosecond laser pulses continuously tunable from 200 nm to 3.6 µm at a repetition rate of 250 kHz with less than 300 fs pulse duration.
- Spectra-Physics ultrafast laser system.
This laser system consists of a femtosecond/picosecond Spectra‑Physics Tsunami Ti:Sapphire mode-locked laser pumped by a large frame Spectra‑Physics Beamlock argon ion laser. This laser system provides femtosecond pulses in the optical wavelength ranges of 700-1050 nm and 350-525 nm (the frequency doubled output of the Tsunami) at a repetition rate of 82 MHz.
- Spectra-Physics Quanta Ray Nd:YAG high energy pulse laser.
This laser system provides high energy laser pulse with the repetition rates from 10 to 100 Hz and energies in excess of 1000 mJ/pulse at 1064 nm, 500 mJ/pulse at 532 nm, 250 mJ/pulse at 355 nm, and 30 mJ/pulse at 266 nm.
- Hamamatsu time-resolved photoluminescence/fluorescence streak camera system.
This system utilizes two-dimensional photon-counter to provide a complete time-resolved spectrum in a single measurement. The current system exhibits an instrument response with a full width and half maximum of ~15 ps, and a detectable spectra response in the ranges of 250-850 nm.
- Ultrafast optical spectroscopy measurement systems.
These are home-made systems, which are capable of performing femtosecond pump-probe transient transmission, transient reflection, transient grating (four-wave-mixing), and photoluminescence up-conversion measurements. The system consists of Coherent ultrafast laser sources, Aerotech delay stages, spectrometers, lock-in amplifiers, detectors, optics, choppers, and opto-mechanics.
- Cryogenics systems.
Two Janis and one R.G. Hansen & Associate liquid helium system (10 K), and one Janis liquid nitrogen system (77K).
- Spectrapro 2750 spectrometer with liquid nitrogen cooled CCD detector.
- Monochromater systems.
One Spectrapro 300, one Spectrapro 150, and two Spex 270M monochromaters.
- Two Aerotech delay stages.
- Argon ion lasers: One Coherent Sabre and one Coherent Innova 300 argon ion laser.
- Dye lasers: One Coherent CR599 and one Coherent 700 dye laser.
- Five He-Ne lasers.
- One fiber coupled 1µm diode laser.
- Oriel Xenon arc, Mercury arc, and QTH lamp sources.
- Physik Instrumente XY Piezonanopositioning stage system.
- Home-built optical Moiré interferometry system.
- Three Stanford Research System SR830 DSP lock-in amplifiers.
- Mechanical choppers, power meters, IR viewers, photodetectors, optics, and optomechanics.
- Oscilloscopes.
2. Device Fabrication and Characterization Facilities
- MBraun glovebox system
Nitrogen filled 3-sectioned full automatic controlled glove box system for inorganic device fabrication or oxygen/moisture sensitive device fabrication. This system is fully customized for photovoltaic device fabrication and characterization. Following equipments are integrated on this system.
- Integrated vacuum evaporator system: custom designed evaporation system. 4 pocket electron beam source, 1 DC magnetron sputter source, 2 thermal evaporator sources are integrated in high vacuum chamber running by cryogenic pump.
- Spin coater: programmable spin coater gives spinning speed from 500 rpm to 8000 rpm with multiple programmed steps
- Refrigerator: low temperature (-30 °C) refrigerator system prevent damages of stored organic materials
- Solar simulator: Oriel 150W solar simulator with fiber-optic feed through is integrated in glove box for solar cell characterization. It provides AM 1.5G solar spectrum.
- Source meter and feed through : I-V characterization for solar cells in inert condition.
- Dimatix inkjet printer: inkjet printing fabrication using 20 micron resolution MEMS technology inkjet printer.
- Oriel solar simulator
1000W Oriel solar simulator with AM 0, AM 1.5G, AM1.5D fileters. It has an adjustable power source up to 5 sun power density. Ambient condition and inert condition measurements are available with high power source using homemade measurement stage.
- I-V measurement systems
Computerized I-V measurement system using Kiethley 2400 source meter and LabView software
- Fisher Hamilton fume hoods
Two fume hood system for spin coating and sample cleaning procedure.
- VWR Microscope with CCD camera