Laser technologies for ultrasensitive groundwater dating using long-lived isotopes.

Our approach is to use DUV/VUV laser light to create the metastable Krypton used for dating ground water. The current arc method used leads to contamination of the electrodes, and therefore a lengthy cleaning process before another sample can be analyzed. In this work we propose to use single or multi-photon excitation through DUV/VUV laser systems which eliminated the need for arc discharge, and has the added benefit of efficiently promoting Krypton to its metastable level. In this project, we propose to develop a high repetition rate, DUV/VUV ultrafast source for creating metastable Krypton for dating ground water. Currently, there are no commercial or scientific sources with the combination of high 100kHz 1MHz) repetition rates, and nJ pulse energy in the DUV/VUV, with < 200fs pulses, but there is intense interest in this type of laser to create metastable Krypton through single and multi-photon excitation. This will greatly enhance accurate dating of ground water. This process will increase accuracy and throughput of ground water samples. Other benefits include ARPES Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy), chemical spectroscopies, as well as semicon fab. Many groups currently using eximer, and Ti:sapphire lasers and amplifiers for generating VUV could benefit greatly from the reduced complexity, reduced cost, and higher power from the laser system we will design. This system will be a large improvement over currently available ultrafast laser sources.