Femtosecond Laser Facility Planned for Canada

The Canada Foundation for Innovation in Ottawa has announced the allocation of almost C$21 million for construction of the Advanced Laser Light Source. The facility, which will be located in Varennes and administered by the Université du Québec-Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique in Sainte-Foy, will feature femtosecond lasers emitting at various wavelengths for research applications in biology, medicine, chemistry, physics and telecommunications.

The five-beamline laser system, which is scheduled to go online in 2006, will enable scientists to manipulate matter and to probe its dynamics at ultrashort timescales. Of particular interest to the effort is the development of alternative means for the detection of breast cancer.
The decision funds efforts at the institute, the Universities of British Columbia, Alberta, Toronto and Western Ontario, along with Université Laval, McGill University and the National Research Council of Canada. The facility is expected to involve more than 70 researchers from 32 universities in nine nations.

The foundation was established by the Canadian government in 1997.