A team of researchers from OSU and University of Missouri led by Dr. Enam Chowdhury of OSU Physics were awarded $1.3 million Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) grant titled, “Fundamentals of femtosecond laser induced damage of solids: advancement through experimental, computational and theoretical development”. The team, with a unified approach, will attack fundamental aspects of intense field laser interaction with solid/surface, beginning from ultra-fast processes like ionization, surface plasmon formation, non-equilibrium electron dynamics in solid driven by laser, to processes at nano-second scale, like material movement, ablation, and crater formation. For more information, please visit (http://u.osu.edu/chowdhury.24/)

Fig. Surface Plasmon induced periodic ripple formation in single crystal Cu from interaction with a femtosecond laser pulse (Op. Exp. 23 19432 (2015)).