Presenter: Alex Gibb
Authors: Alexander Gibb
Faculty Advisor: York Young
Institution: Utah Valley University
One way to probe tissue for disease is via long wave infrared spectroscopy. This technique uses wavelength dependent absorption of specific molecules which serve as early indicators of disease onset in human tissue. One reason long wave spectroscopy is not more widely used, is that long wave detectors are expensive and slow. Another deterrent is that typical long wave light sources, such as tunable quantum cascade lasers, are difficult to tune over wavelength ranges spanning several microns, limiting the molecule types, and thus diseases, that can be probed with this method. Our research aims to develop a laser and non-linear optical wavelength conversion system to address these issues by using: 1. A 1 micron laser driven long wave Barium Gallium Selenide (BGS) optical parametric oscillator (OPO) as the broadly tunable source for probing diseased tissue and 2. A BGS-based sum frequency generator (SFG) to convert the probing long wave light to the near infrared - allowing faster, lower cost, and more sensitive optical detectors to be used. Starting from scratch, I have constructed the control system for a fiber coupled 808nm diode laser which will pump the 1 micron Nd:YVO4laser, which will in turn serve as the non-linear optical drive engine for both the OPO and the SFG. In this presentation, I discuss the design, construction, and characterization of the 808nm pump laser and then conclude with the project’s next steps.