Sarah Bolton

Associate Professor of Physics

Education/Experience

• Brown 1988, B.Sc.
• University of California at Berkeley 1995, Ph.D.

Contact Information

• Office: BSC 063
• Lab: BSC 065
• Phone: (413) 597-2817
• E-mail: sbolton@williams.edu

Courses given 2001-2002

• Physics 131: Particles and Waves
• Physics 109: Sound, Light and Perception
• Physics 142: Physics Today

Research in our lab

Camille Burnett '01 and Ricky Joshi '01 at work in the Ti:Sapphire lab

Research Interests:

Nonlinear Dynamics in Modelocked lasers:

Recent work in a number of ultrafast laser systems has revealed unexpected dynamics modifying the temporal characteristics of the pulse trains. In particular, in our work with Sodium Chloride lasers we have found a progression with increasing Kerr nonlinearity from a smooth pulse train, in which all pulses are identical, to a period doubled pulse train, in which pulses alternate in between high and low intensities, to higher harmonic quasi periodic pulse trains. Analysis of the nonlinearities governing the temporal behavior in these systems has revealed that these modifications are in fact part of a well defined route to chaos. In our current work we are building a new ultrafast system which will enable us to study in detail both the temporal and spatial aspects of these nonlinear dynamics. In combination with theoretical modeling, these studies will allow new insight into the dynamics governing ultrafast laser systems, and in particular give a general description of the stability regimes of these systems which may replace the phenomenological approach which is currently being used.

Dimensionality Dependence of Ultrafast Dynamics in Semiconductors

Our ultrafast laser system will also be used to perform studies of the influence of confinement on carrier dynamics in III-V and II-VI semiconductor systems. Particular emphasis will be placed on the effects of exciton structure on energy relaxation and dephasing dynamics in these systems.

Selected publications

• "A Quasiperiodic Route to Chaos in the Kerr Lens Modelocked Ti:Sapphire Laser", S.R. Bolton, Mark R. Acton '00, Physical Review A, 62, 063803, (2000).
• "Evidence of six-particle Coulomb correlations in six-wave-mixing signals from a semiconductor quantum well" V.M. Axt, S.R. Bolton, U. Neukirch, L.J. Sham, and D.S. Chemla. Physical Review B, 63, 115303, (2001).
• "Demonstration of sixth-order Coulomb correlations in a semiconductor single quantum well". S.R. Bolton, U. Neukirch, L.J. Sham, D.S. Chemla and V.M. Axt. Physical Review Letters, 85, 2002, (2000).
• "Nonlinear Dynamics in Ultrafast Lasers" S. Bolton, R. A. Jenks '98, C.N. Elkinton '98, and G. Sucha. IEEE LEOS Newsletter: University Research Highlights Section, 14 (7) 2000.
• "Polariton-Biexciton Transitions in a Semiconductor Microcavity" U. Neukirch, S.R. Bolton, N. Fromer, L.J. Sham, and D.S. Chemla , Physical Review Letters, 84 (2215) , 2000.
• "Electronic four-particle correlations in semiconductors: Renormalization of coherent pump-probe oscillations" U. Neukirch, S.R. Bolton, L.J. Sham, and D.S. Chemla, Physical Review B, 61, R7835 (2000).
• Pulse resolved measurements of subharmonic oscillations in a Kerr-lens mode-locked Ti:Sapphire laser, S.R. Bolton, R. A. Jenks '98, C. N. Elkinton '98, and G. Sucha. Journal of the Optical Society of America, B, 16, 339, (1999)
• Effects of confinement on carrier dynamics in InGaAs heterostructures, Sarah Bolton, Gregg Sucha, and Daniel Chemla, D.L. Sivco, A.Y. Cho. Physical Review B, 58, 16326, (1998).
• Effects of cavity topology on the nonlinear dynamics of additive pulse mode locked lasers. G. Sucha, D.S. Chemla, S.R. Bolton. Journal of the Optical Society of America, B.15, 2847, (1998).
• Effects of confinement on energy dependent dephasing in heterostrucures, S.R. Bolton, S. Bar-Ad, G. Sucha, D.S. Chemla, D.L. Sivco, A.Y. Cho.Physical Review B, 55, 15768, (1997).
• Period-Doubling and quasiperiodicity in additive pulse modelocked lasers, G. Sucha, S.R. Bolton, S. Weiss, and D.S. Chemla. Optics Letters, 20, 1794 (1995).
• Carrier Relaxation in InGaAs Heterostructures, G. Sucha, S.R. Bolton, D.S. Chemla, D.L. Sivco and A.Y. Cho. Applied Physics Letters, 65, 1486, (1994).
• Generation of High-Power Femtosecond Pulses near 1.5um Using a Color-Center Laser System, Gregg Sucha, Sarah R. Bolton, and Daniel S. Chemla. IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics, 28, 2163 (1992).