Eric Mazur
Nano- and bio-photonics

Our group studies the dynamics of molecules, chemical reactions and condensed matter on very short timescales - down to femtoseconds. Physics in this ultrafast regime can only be studied using light, specifically, short laser pulses. The intensity of these short laser pulses is enormous and allows the creation of conditions that approach those found in stars and the study of a host of new phenomena. Subjects of interest include: ultrafast carrier and lattice dynamics in photo-excited solids, control of lattice dynamics in solids on a femtosecond time scale, fabrication of highly integrated photonic devices, and micromachining of photonic structures inside transparent materials. We are particularly interested in developing novel ways to use femtosecond laser pulses in biology and medicine. Also, by tightly focusing these laser pulses inside biological samples, we can perform“nanosurgery” which allows the ablation of intracellular organilles and other targets with an unprecedented precision of just a few nanometers. Combined with nonlinear multiphoton imaging, this new tool opens the door to new files of study in the life sciences.

Publications:
Kim, A., Roeser, C. and Mazur, E. 2003. Modulation of the Bonding-Antibonding Splitting in TE by Coherent Phonons. Phys. Rev. B 68: 012301.

Younkin, R., Carey, J. and Mazur, E. 2003. Infrared absorption by conical silicon micro-structures made in a variety of background gasses using femtosecond-laser pulses. J. Appl. Phys. 93: 2626-2628.

Tong, L., Gattass, R.R., Ashcom, J.B., He, S., Lou, J., Shen, M., Maxwell, I. and Mazur, E. 2003. Subwave-length diameter silica wires for low-loss optical wave guiding. Nature 426: 816-819.