Max-Born-Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI), GermanyThe Max-Born-Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy was founded in 1992. It belongs to the "Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V." and is a member of the "Leibniz association". The institute has about 180 members of staff of which 90 are scientists (including PhD students). It conducts basic research in the field of nonlinear optics and ultrafast dynamics of the interaction of light with matter and pursues applications which emerge from this research. For these investigations it uses laser based ultrafast light sources in a broad spectral range from the mid-IR through the visible down to the x-ray wavelength region. With its research MBI fulfills a nationwide mission and is an integral part of the international science community. It offers its facilities and its scientific know-how also to external researchers within the framework of an active guest programme. The institute is involved in a large number and variety of cooperative research projects with universities, other research institutions and industrial partners. The research is distributed among internal research projects.
Dr. V. Petrov, coordinator of the DT-CRYS-consortium, is a project leader responsible for "Novel laser and nonlinear optical materials"&r. He has about 20 years of experience with ultrafast lasers. The work on Yb-doped materials (first glasses, later YAG, tungstate and sesquioxide hosts) was initiated in 1996. Beside Yb-doped laser materials other laser crystals under study include Cr4+-doped forsterite and YAG and also Ce:LiSAF and LiCAF. Numerous nonlinear crystals are also investigated for the frequency conversion of ultrashort pulses from the UV to the mid-IR (LBO, BBO, LB4, CLBO, KB5, KTP and isomorphs, KNbO3, MgO-LiNbO3, AgGaS2, LiInS2 and isomorphs, HgGa2S4, mixed and periodically poled nonlinear crystals, as well Ba(NO3)2 as a Raman crystal).
More information on the Max-Born-Institute can be found on:
http://www.mbi-berlin.de