Grant: Major Resources Support Program - Infrastructure

Canadian groups have developed a unique perspective for molecular imaging based on combining major advances in ultrafast science. As a result, we have established a Canadian based International Research Facility that is exploring a completely new approach to dynamic investigation of matter. This major research resource, called the Advanced Laser Light Source (ALLS), is enabling the combination of any or all of the most advanced laser technologies for exploiting light-matter interactions. ALLS aims to be accessible to the scientific community at large. The ALLS project brings together Canadian institutions and researchers involved in ultrafast lasers, technologies, and applications. The facility was launched in April 2003, and made open to users in September 2005 starting with two laser beam lines available. It will be fully operational, with a maximum of four beam lines available in January 2008. The Canadian users' projects at ALLS, many of which started in September 2005, are regrouping 33 Canadian faculty professors and 7 senior researchers from governmental laboratories (4 are also adjunct faculty members at Canadian Universities), distributed among 18 institutions from 4 provinces. During the first two years of operation, there has already been several important research results emerging from ALLS experiments, and new national and international collaborations lead by key Canadian researchers have materialized from the various ALLS projects. ALLS is not duplicating already existing tools but is rather opening new specific niches for Canadian research on ultrafast lasers and their applications. The ALLS initiative is providing the right platform to integrate and fully transfer small-scale feasibility experiments to full-scale exploitation experiments.