research overview
- Prof. Kapteyn's research is in developing, and putting to use, techniques for generating coherent x-rays using tabletop-scale laser technology. Contemporary laser technlogy, much of which was developed by the group of Prof. Kapteyn and Prof. Margaret Murnane, makes it possible to generate light pulses of terawatt (10^12 W) or higher peak power, in a flash of light only 10 femtoseconds (10^-14 sec) in duration, using a tabletop laser setup. The interaction of this intense light with atoms and molecules upconverts some of the incident light into a coherent beam of light at much higher frequencies, in effect creating for the first time a tabletop x-ray laser source that generates extremely short bursts. Much of the technology for doing this was also developed in the Kapteyn/Murnane lab, and they have also used this new capability for novel research investigating dynamic processes in atoms, molecules, and materials.
