With the PF Legend and TOPAS laser systems installed, we have recently demonstrated our first femtosecond transient absorption experiment. Above is shown the decay of the first excited state of Diphenyl-Butadiene in n-Hexanes, after excitation with a 350nm, ~100fs, pump pulse. For more information, go to the Transient Absorption Spectroscopy pages.
It is truly getting crowded on the factory floor in the Photon Factory. Our new set of optical tables has arrived and are ready to be lifted into place. They are currently in the lab (quite a feat of Kiwi can do attitude. Thanks Steve et al! ) and taking up a lot of space. Soon we will be able to add more capabilities to our lab, including additional nanosecond lasers and another complete amplified laser system. At the moment the tables make for very cool, and hard, beds.
It’s fresh completition at the U of A. The boys over in Ye Ol’ Machine Shoppe have heard of the wonders of our laser cutting expliots, and have decided to join the club. The University of Auckland machine shop has recently aquired a new laser cutter. While the VersaLaser 50 Watt cutting system, does not have as much output power as our 100 Watt Bassel LaserStar system, we anticipate that its large working platform will make it a much more useful general purpose tool!