Pulsed laser ablation is a simple, but versatile, experimental method that finds use as a means of patterning a very diverse range of materials, and in wide areas of thin film deposition and multi-layer research. Superficially, at least, the technique is conceptually simple also, but this apparent simplicity hides a wealth of fascinating, and still incompletely understood, chemical physics. Thi...

The feasibility of exploiting plasma chemistry to study the chemical reactions between metallic nanoparticles and molecular explosives such as cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX) has been demonstrated. This method, based on laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, involves the production of nanoparticles in a laser-induced plasma and the simultaneous observation of time-resolved atomic and molecul...

The chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) is the only chemical laser based on the electronic transitions. It emits at 1315 nm on the transition between the spin-orbit levels of the ground state configuration of the iodine atom. Here near resonant energy transfer takes place from a singlet delta oxygen [O 2 (a 1 Δ)] molecule to an atomic iodine atom. The singlet delta oxygen molecules O 2 (a 1 Δ) ...

We have realized photonic crystal lasers that permit the introduction of analyte within the peak of the optical field of the lasing mode. We have explored the design compromises for developing such sensitive low-threshold spectroscopy sources, and demonstrate the operation of photonic crystal lasers in different ambient organic solutions. We show that nanocavity lasers can be used to perform sp...

* A new technique of sensitivity analysis has been applied to the Kerber-Emanuel-Whittier model of a pulse mode hydrogen fluoride chemical laser, so as to determine which parameter uncertainties most critically influence the model's ability to predict laser performance. The particular parameters directly considered were thirteen rate constants out of a set of 68 rate constants in the model, and...

During the past several years our group has developed and employed a new technique for realistic simulations of the interaction of light with matter. Recent simulations of laser pulses interacting with molecules clearly demonstrate the potential for control of chemical reactions, through various mechanisms which include the following: (i) excitation of electrons to states which have different b...

Subfemtosecond control of the breaking and making of chemical bonds in polyatomic molecules is poised to open new pathways for the laser-driven synthesis of chemical products. The break-up of the C-H bond in hydrocarbons is an ubiquitous process during laser-induced dissociation. While the yield of the deprotonation of hydrocarbons has been successfully manipulated in recent studies, full contr...

A chemical and water-free laser-assisted cleaning technology using deep ultraviolet photons in conjunction with a flowing inert gas is introduced. This environment friendly technology can be used in a wide-range of industrial applications.