Student Invited Lecture Series: Greg Rieker

Our laboratory has spent a decade adapting Nobel prize winning frequency comb laser technology to address emerging challenges at the forefront of climate, energy, and the environment. Frequency combs emit hundreds of thousands of distinct wavelengths of light in exquisitely short, repeatable pulses. They enable measurements of light-matter interaction at high accuracy, precision, and stability across large regions of the infrared spectrum. We have leveraged these new tools to reduce emissions from oil and gas infrastructure, probe hypersonic systems, and watch chemical kinetic reactions unfold at high speed. I will describe the journey of this technology from a laboratory novelty to a variety of applications, and discuss new opportunities that are opening up as we mobilize the technology in smaller and simpler configurations.