Lasers will allow spacecraft to get highly accurate distance measurements
Lasers are a key piece of technology that are being researched for many different uses. The military is developing weapons using laser pulses to destroy missiles in the air and attack ground targets. Lasers are also used heavily in medical procedures and in research.
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has helped determine that a femtosecond comb laser could be used to provide highly accurate measurement of absolute distance for missions in space that require formation flying. The NPL worked with the European Space Agency to determine that the lasers were suitable for the task.
Since no laser or light source meets every patient’s needs, experts say it’s crucial to choose technologies that will provide the maximum utility in a given practice setting.
“Choosing your first laser can be quite a daunting challenge,” she says. However, she says that taking a methodical approach simplifies the decision.
Product versus platform
“The first thing to understand is that there is a difference between a single laser and a platform,” which consists of a base unit with removable attachments to provide treatments at different wavelengths, she says.
Many intense pulsed light (IPL) systems come as platform devices that accept laser attachments, she says, and even single-wavelength devices possess multiple applications. Other options include popular dual-wavelength combinations such as 532 and 1,064 nm or 595 and 1,064 nm.
Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania will host a 500-million-euro ($728.5 million) pioneering laser facility with a wide range of advanced scientific applications, Hungary said Thursday.
Scientists at the center will conduct research in nuclear physics, astrophysics, cosmology, high-energy physics, as well as areas like cancer research, said Gabor Szabo, the lead scientist on Hungary’s bid to host the project.
The southern Hungarian university city of Szeged will host part of the project, amounting to 40 percent of the total investment, which will mostly be paid for through Hungary’s EU structural funds.
In a recent test at the White Sands Missile Range, a specially equipped C-130 plane fried a parked truck with a powerful laser. And while we still haven’t seen evidence of the laser “defeating” a ground target, as Boeing puts it, a video of it scorching a direct hit on the hood of a truck is still pretty amazing.
As you can see, the laser beam burns right through the truck’s hood, and then through the engine, “defeating” the vehicle. Called the “Advanced Tactical Laser” (ATL), this is the first time the megawatt-powered chemical laser has been used to engage a target in a combat simulation situation.
LiDAR data are generated using lasers mounted on an airplane that is flown over the study area. Sensors on the aircraft record the laser light that is reflected from the vegetation and the ground. These data are then used to develop detailed maps of the forest structure (for example, the height of the tallest trees). Scientists can then use their knowledge of what types of forest structure birds need to predict where birds will occur. With LiDAR, they can do this over large geographic areas more quickly and easily than with traditional methods.
Hereditary hair loss is a medical condition that affects some 50 million American men, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Medications, including the oral drug Propecia and the topical Rogaine, are often used to treat it. But the drugs don’t work for everyone and can have side effects, according to dermatologists.
A number of companies sell handheld, low-intensity lasers for home use that are intended to stimulate hair follicles, typically three times a week for 10 to 15 minutes. The lasers, which aren’t covered by insurance, are available online, at some doctors offices and at some retailers.
Scientists say that low-level lasers are safe and likely do act on cellular compounds that can spur hair growth.
According to a new study by scientists at British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and Bristol University, an extensive thinning of polar ice has been revealed in Antarctica and Greenland, by the images captured by a laser aboard an orbiting NASA spacecraft.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, specified that the satellite laser is essentially used by the scientists with the BAS to measure infinitesimal changes in the thickness of glaciers and ice sheets, along the coast of the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica.
Noting that fast-flowing glaciers cause the maximum loss of ice, BAS scientist Hamish Pritchard said: “We were surprised to see such a strong pattern of thinning glaciers across such large areas of coastline — it’s widespread and in some cases thinning extends hundreds of kilometers inland. We think that warm ocean currents reaching the coast and melting the glacier front is the most likely cause of faster glacier flow.”
The first laser ranging effort to track a spacecraft beyond low-Earth orbit on a daily basis produces distance measurements accurate to about four inches (10 centimeters). For comparison, the microwave stations tracking LRO measure its range to a precision of about 65 feet (20 meters).
“Current lunar maps are not as accurate as we’ll need to return people safely to the moon,” said Ronald Zellar of NASA Goddard, team lead for the LRO laser ranging system. “In order to make an accurate map, first you need to know where you are. Knowing the precise range to LRO is necessary for its instruments to produce much more accurate maps, with errors reduced to the size of humans or rovers.”
“A further benefit of laser ranging to LRO is that it can improve knowledge of the moon’s orientation and gravity, which are central to understanding its interior structure and to precision navigation,” said Gregory Neumann, a Geophysicist at NASA Goddard.
Australian researchers say they have demonstrated the first laser built with diamonds that has comparable efficiency to lasers built with other materials.
The scientists said their Raman laser paves the way to new defense technologies and improved surgical uses. They said the properties of diamonds also may lead to more powerful lasers that can be optimized to produce laser light colors currently unavailable to existing technologies.
Led by Richard Mildren of Macqaurie University in Sydney and Alexander Sabella of the Defense Science and Technology Organization in Edinburgh, South Australia, the scientists said existing Raman lasers usually use crystals of silicon, barium nitrate or metal tungstate to amplify light. But, they said, diamonds have a higher optical gain, as well as a greater thermal conductivity.
The $270,000 laser will replace the current one which has been used in an atmospheric Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) instrument at Australia’s Davis station in Antarctica since 2001.
The LIDAR shoots a beam of laser light, 20 million times more powerful than a standard electric light bulb, into the atmosphere and measures subtle changes in the colour and intensity of the light when it is scattered by atmospheric gases and particles.
The measurements provide information on density, temperature, wind speed and aerosol particles from the surface to heights of 100 kilometres.
This information helps scientists understand process associated with atmospheric change, particularly those related to the ozone hole.
According to a new study by scientists at 
