Femtosecond Technology

Femtosecond technology deals with processes and events on a time scale of a few femtoseconds (1 femtosecond = 1 fs = 10e^-15 seconds). It is only possible to gain access to these ultrafast dynamics by using specific lasers, that emit extremely short light pulses. Femtosecond lasers are broadly used at the Institute of Semiconductor Electronics. Basic physical phenomena, like collective lattice vibrations (coherent phonons) as well as new materials and devices for optoelectronic high-frequency applications are investigated on a femtosecond time scale. Newly developed measurement techniques allow a highly sensitive characterisation in this field of research. Furthermore, femtosecond lasers are specifically used in biomedical applications: Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique, which facilitates in vivo tissue imaging on a sub micrometer scale.