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NSF PR 96-70 - November 7, 1996
Media contact: |
Cary Lee Hanes |
(703) 306-1070 |
Program contact: |
Larry Goldberg |
(703) 306-1339 |
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New Awards for Optical Science and Engineering
Span Many Disciplines
The National Science Foundation has announced 18 awards
totaling $13.5 million under a one-time, multidisclipinary
initiative in optical science and engineering. These
three-year awards were selected from 76 proposals
and 627 pre-proposals. Over a dozen NSF program areas
participated in the initiative.
Optical science and engineering, the study of how
light interacts with matter, is an "enabling" technology
-- one that can be applied to diverse fields of research
and education, from information infrastructure, advanced
manufacturing, and remote sensing, to devising new
optical tools for biotechnology and medicine.
For such a sweeping field, the broad approach of NSF's
optical science and engineering initiative, emphasizing
collaboration between disciplines, is particularly
effective. By coordinating program efforts, the NSF
has encouraged cross-disciplinary linkages that could
lead to major findings, sometimes in seemingly unrelated
areas that could have solid scientific as well as
economic benefits.
Some highlights of the new awards:
- Biological motors A project led by the University
of California-San Diego uses optical methods
to probe individual molecules or ions, in
order to explore their internal structure
and interaction with the environment, and
to detect and manipulate tiny molecular "motor"
proteins that may be important to cell functioning,
including transport in the cell.
- Imaging Living Tissue In a Princeton University-led
project, researchers are investigating a new
technology using laser-polarized gases to
enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of
biological materials. Collaborating researchers
from Princeton and Duke Universities recently
used the technique to make the first MRI images
of the gas space of a human lung.
A related project led by Brigham and Women's
Hospital and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
is exploring the technique's potential to
characterize the integrity of liquid membranes
to measure blood flow to tissue, both with
potential for medical diagnosis. The group
is also applying the technique to understand
pore connectivity in reservoir rocks.
- Controlling chemical reactions with light A
University of Connecticut-led project is exploring
the use of light pulses to control chemical
reactions -- both the rate of reaction and
the products that result. The techniques of
laser manipulation, which have proven so fruitful
in creating suspensions -- or trappings --
of atoms, will also be extended to molecules
and molecular ions. The researchers expect
to uncover novel chemical processes and physical
behavior at ultracold temperatures at which
the particles barely move.
- Lighting up the atmosphere In a project spearheaded
by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
a new laser-radar system will be built to
study the middle levels of the atmosphere
-- specifically, probing iron and calcium
in the mesopause region (85 kilometers altitude)
and investigating the influence of tides and
planetary waves on the atmosphere at that
altitude. The measurements of Arctic temperatures
will be the first ever made of the mesopause
at extreme high latitudes.
- Probing cells in living tissue This project
led by Harvey Mudd College, an undergraduate
institution, will build a new microscope to
study fundamental problems in developmental
biology, such as the formation of plant embryos
in vivo. The microscope, based on optical
coherence phenomena, will be able to image
cells up to one millimeter beneath the surface
of living tissue -- an image that light-scattering
would render opaque to a conventional light
microscope.
- Using lasers to explore molecules A project
led by Columbia University in collaboration
with researchers from industry and government
laboratories seeks to use ultrashort-pulse
laser sources to produce far-infrared radiation
that can probe the spectra of molecules on
surfaces and thin films. Because it is difficult
to probe such small amounts of materials by
other means, these techniques may lead to
new analytical tools for investigating technologically
significant materials systems, such as polymer
and ferroelectric thin films used in advanced
electronic devices.
- X-ray Microscope A University of Maryland
led project will develop an x-ray microscope
based on the ability to generate coherent
radiation in the x-ray spectral region from
laser-excited plasmas. The instrument will
be capable of resolving biological and other
objects as small as 10 nanometers in dimension,
and will be able to follow the motion of these
objects on an ultrashort time scale.
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