LSU Chemistry Sweeps STEM Rainmaker Awards

Rainmakers in Research Recognized

2107 LSU Rainmakers
At the LSU Rainmakers event were, left to right: Provost Rick Koubek, Campus Federal Credit Union President and CEO Dawn Harris, Associate Vice President for Research & Economic Development Stephen David Beck, Associate Professor Donghui Zhang, Associate Vice President for Research & Economic Development Gus Kousoulas, the Mary P. Poindexter Professor of Mass Communication Lance Porter, Assistant Professor Rendy Kartika, Vice President of Research & Economic Development Kalliat T. Valsaraj, Roy Paul Daniels Professor of Chemistry Kermit Murray, the Louise & Kenneth Kinney Professor of Black Drama and Playwriting Femi Euba, and Assistant Professor Benjamin Kahan. Photo Credit: Cody Willhite, LSU

IR Opolette 2940

IR Opolette 2940 side view.
IR Opolette 2940 side view.

Another laser and the second from OPOTEK this year: an IR Opolette 2940. It is fixed wavelength at 2940 nm for no other reason than that is the Er:YAG laser wavelength. It is possible to manually adjust the internal optics to generate light from 2700 to 3100 nm.

OPOTEK IR Opolette head (right) and Quantel
OPOTEK IR Opolette head (right) and Quantel

This laser has its roots in the STTR grant that I had with OPOTEK starting in 2001 (awarded when I was at Emory but moved immediately to LSU in the first year of Phase I). Our goal was to build an OPO with the capabilities of the Mirage 3000B but in a smaller package.

OPOTEK Opolette 2940 laser head.
OPOTEK Opolette 2940 laser head.

The left port gives access to the Nd:YAG laser fundamental at 1064 nm and the right port is the 2940 nm mid-IR at about 3 mJ per pulse at 20 Hz. Plenty of energy when focused to efficiently ablate thin films (similar to our wavelength tunable IR Opolette which you can see ablating things here.)