Boise Technology, Inc.


Boise Technology, Inc. is a specialized scientific research company that utilizes advanced spectroscopic techniques for the investigation of fundamental scientific problems. Active areas of research are currently concentrated on, but not limited to, answering important questions in surface science using nonlinear optical spectroscopy. The instrumentation and scientific expertise at Boise Technology is ready to tackle many additional pressing scientific challenges in physics, chemistry, and biology.

Boise Technology was founded in 2003, with the goal of an independent research center for advanced optics and spectroscopy in the Pacific Northwest. Since its foundation, substantial research funding has enabled the creation of a research facility in Nampa, Idaho. Current research projects underway are being conducted with the use of a state-of-the-art tunable femtosecond laser system which we regard as one of the most advanced light sources in the Pacific Northwest. With this advanced laser system, Boise Technology is poised to emerge as a leader in optics and spectroscopic research. The scientific expertise of Boise Technology is represented by its permanent staff of three PhD scientists, multiple independent contract researchers, and several collaborative research relationships. Cumulatively, our personnel represents broad expertise in chemistry, physics and surface sciences, with specialized capabilities in nonlinear spectroscopy, time-resolved spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, computational chemistry, and enzymology.

The unique research capabilities of Boise Technology are created by the availability of sophisticated optics instrumentation. At the core of this capability is our tunable femtosecond laser system: a regenerative amplified, mode-locked titanium-sapphire oscillator producing intense 30-100fs laser pulses with on-demand wavelength tunability from an automated optical parametric amplifier. In conjunction with the advanced light source, a collection of necessary optics, optomechanics, electronics and detectors enables the study of many diverse physical/chemical/biological systems. Current research projects are utilizing this system for second harmonic generation spectroscopy in order to answer fundamental questions of relevant chemical reactions at liquid/liquid and liquid/solid interfaces. This research is being expanded to include vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy to investigate chemical reactivity at liquid/liquid and solid/liquid interfaces. Many other types of spectroscopy experiments may be performed with this system including ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy. In addition to the current capabilities, plans are in progress to couple sophisticated optical microscopy techniques with our advanced light source. Confocal microscopy is a powerful technique to study many physical and biological systems with exceptional spatial resolution. By pairing the confocal microscopy techniques of multi-photon fluorescence and second harmonic generation with an advanced, tunable light source, we hope to develop new abilities in spectroscopy and microscopy.