What is laser physics?
A laser is an optical electronic instrument which emits coherent concentrated radiation. A typical ray of light emitted by a laser is narrow, with negligible deviation and a constant wavelength. Lasers are used in almost all fields of science and technology. In physics, the laser is the main instrument in the research of photophysical and photochemical processes; for example, it is used in plasma diagnostics, verification of relativity, quantum and elementary particle theories, research on ultra fast processes, nuclear fusion, etc.
BUFPI laser physics studies
Studies conducted by the BUFPI Laser Physics Laboratory are and will continue to be primarily linked to the production of specific electronic instruments, as well as the practical use of lasers for the most diverse purposes, such as real-time high-accuracy measurement of distance.
One of the Institute's current projects, whose implementation is the subject of a contract signed with the LIAA (Investment and Development Agency of Latvia) and which is being conducted in the Parish of Mētriena in the District of Madona, envisages the purchase of equipment for the newly created optical electronics laboratory. The laboratory will develop, manufacture and install the special purpose optical electronic instruments. Examples of electronic optical instruments include laser add-ons (sharpeners, noise reducers), as well as lasers themselves - primarily diode lasers, e.g., atomic transition stabilized lasers. We will develop lasers with a very narrow spectral width – diode lasers have a typical linewidth on the order of 10 MHz. Theoretically, BUFPI could narrow this linewidth right down to 1 Hz, i.e. 10,000,000 times. Such ultra precise lasers are used in time standards and fundamental studies.
An important aspect of the research planned by BUFPI is related to a laser distance measurement system to measure the distance from Earth to satellites with micrometric accuracy. By way of comparison, current accuracy is a few centimetres, therefore we are planning an improvement of 10,000 times, which would be a notable achievement given the huge distance separating Earth from a satellite in orbit. Currently, within the framework of another EU project, in partnership with the European Space Agency, measuring instruments are being built at the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany, to measure the distance between satellites in space. BUFPI plans to develop an instrument that measures the distance from Earth to a satellite, but studies still have to be conducted on the atmospheric impact on the laser signal. Within the parameters of this project, we will collaborate with Daugavpils University, the Max Planck Institute, German advanced technology company Menlo Systems GmbH, the LU Institute of Astronomy and the Institute of Electronics and Computer Science. It is important to note that these types of distance-measuring instruments can be put to other practical uses, such as high-accuracy distance measurements of both static and mobile subjects (e.g., measurement of the motions of a bridge oscillating in the wind).
As Head of the Laser Physics Laboratory, Kaspars Blušs points out that it's possible that some of the products planned by BUFPI are already in existence somewhere in the world, but BUFPI has the capability to improve them.
BUFPI’s future plans also leave room for the Institute to leverage the knowledge it has acquired through its research, for example, to create operating memories for forthcoming quantum computers using optical electronic methods. However, the direction of such research will depend on progress within the corresponding field globally, and on the possibilities of securing the necessary funding.
