Category Archives: Lasers in the News

New Laser Based Treatment for Burn Victims

Posted on by
Reply

Lasers are used in a significant number of cosmetic procedures. Usually used to remove unwanted features like hair or skin imperfections, a Miami-based dermatologists is taking the process a step further by using lasers to treat victims of severe burns.

Dr. Jill Wabel crossed paths with Kim Phuc, a woman who suffered full-body burns, as a result of coming in contact with napalm as a child, during the Vietnam War. Moved by her story, Wabel treated Phuc’s burns, using multiple laser treatments to restore her skin. By creating smaller, controlled burns on the body with a laser, the skin surrounding the new burn is healed, often healing the already damaged skin around it. Within six or seven treatments, the skin has restored itself, concealing the severe burn scars.

The procedure is not covered by most insurance providers, and like other cosmetic procedures, can become quite pricey. But for Wabel’s patients, the procedure has given them a second chance for a normal life. For more on Dr. Wabel and the life-changing procedure, check out the original story by clicking here.

 

 

NASA and the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter

Posted on by
Reply

How has the laser influenced our understanding of the Moon? The exploration of space has led to technology developments which use one or more lasers as a means to collect specific data in order to broaden humanity’s understanding of the Moon and neighboring planets. With the Moon being Earth’s nearest neighbor, we’ve come to use this tangible island in space as a laboratory for investigations concerning both the origin and evolution of Earth as well as the all-encompassing solar system. The invention of the laser paved the way for NASA’s advanced space explorations.

On June 18, 2009, NASA launched the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) along with the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) as the forefront of NASA’s Lunar Precursor Robotic Program. This launch began a four-day trip to the Moon and after a calculated four and a half day journey, LRO finally entered into the Moon’s orbit on June 23, 2009. This success resulted in LRO being the first United States mission to the Moon in over ten years.

For its first three years, LRO traveled in a low polar orbit collecting detailed information about the Moon and its foreign environment. Soon enough, the orbiter transitioned into a more stable orbit, passing low over the lunar south pole. The success of this launch marked NASA’s return to the Moon.

In January 2013, four years after stabilizing its orbit, NASA tested one-way laser communication with LRO by sending an image of the Mona Lisa to the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) instrument on LRO from the Next Generation Satellite Laser Ranging (NGSLR) station at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. The LOLA Science Team at NGSLR is still currently responsible for deciphering information sent back to Earth from the LOLA instrument.

While the LRO remained in orbit, LOLA was used to gather detailed data about safe landing sites by displaying global, regional, and local models of surface brightness, surface slopes,  and surface roughness. These models sent back to Earth by LOLA assisted scientists by collecting information about suitable exploration sites on the Moon through the use of a single laser.

Data is collected from LOLA through the propagation of a laser pulse through a Diffractive Optical Element (DOE) or an element or object that splits a single laser beam into five separate beams. This method allows the shape of a given laser beam to be controlled and manipulated in order to flexibly change according to specific application needs. These beams then strike and scatter across the Moon’s surface. Through this action, LOLA then proceeds to measure surface range, surface roughness, surface reflectance, and slopes.

NASA then uses this information to create 3-D maps which are primarily used to help determine locations of lunar ice, potential resources on the Moon, radiation environment, and safe landing sites for future explorations involving spacecraft. These maps also help NASA to determine how to revise, update, and create new technologies which will lead to more efficient information processing instruments and systems. Since receiving the first data sets from LOLA, NASA has made a 3-D map of the Moon’s surface and has provided high resolution images of various Apollo landing sites. These first images were published on Thursday, July 2, 2009.

One year later, a topographic map, or a detailed surface map, of the Moon was released to the public on Friday, December 17, 2010. This land map was based on data sets gathered by the LOLA instrument.

More recently, in May 2015, LRO’s orbit was slightly altered to fly an estimated 12 mi above the Moon’s south pole. This altered flight has since allowed higher resolution data to be collected from the LOLA instrument over shadowed craters.

Observations made by LRO have enabled groundbreaking and breathtaking discoveries. Images and data collected by LOLA helps scientists to determine past and present strengths  and weaknesses of the technologies involved in space-exploration both near and far. The LOLA instrument will continue to provide curious minds with visual maps of our neighboring lunar sphere.

Infrared Lasers: A Treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease

Posted on by
Reply

According to recent studies, nearly 5 to 10 percent of Americans over age 60 are struggling with dementia. The term dementia is a common term which collectively classifies many degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This disease is a neurological disorder which leads to memory loss that is caused by the death of brain cells thus labeling this disorder as a neurodegenerative type of dementia. AD starts mild and gets progressively worse through the passing of time.

This disease was diagnosed in 1906 after Dr. Alois Alzheimer observed many drastic changes in a patient’s brain tissue who had eventually died of an unusual mental illness. Observed symptoms included: memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior.

One treatment that may be used to treat AD in the future includes an inspiring application of laser technology. The patient would have to undergo a process termed “photobiomodulation,” or low-level light therapy. Through this process, a low-level infrared laser is used in order to amplify light energy into radiant energy. This energy is then absorbed into tissues to enhance the body system’s wound healing process.

Through lab-mice experiments, a research group at the University of Sydney, lead by Dr. Siva Purushthuman, has recently discovered that five treatments each week of photobiomodulation drastically reduces the compulsive characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease or AD biomarkers. These results support the idea that infrared lasers show great potential as a minimally-invasive mediation for mitigating continuous AD symptoms.

In order for this process to work, Dr. Purushthuman observed that the light would have to penetrate through the thick human skull and into the brain. Even though these experiments were performed on mice with smaller and thinner skulls, this process does show the potential to be effective if the aforementioned obstacle were resolved. This gives room for future studies, experiments, and research in infrared light therapy.

The findings of Dr. Purushthuman and his research group have been published in Alzheimer’s Research and Therapy.

Communications and the Future of Laser Technology

Posted on by
Reply

With modern technology advancing at such rapid speeds it’s no surprise that one may often wonder where it will all lead us ten or twenty years from now. Some may even find themselves asking what will be the hottest technology within the next century. Laser technology has since undergone a type of explosion that can be experienced through the latest communication devices or any machine service offering immediate convenience. As many skeptics as there are when it comes to this budding of new technology and craze for the unknown, there are still those who thoroughly believe that these new advances will help in the discovery and unveiling of new knowledge. Laser utilization promises to raise human civilization to new heights.

In general, it is understood that technology allows people to live increasingly comfortable and happy lives while testing the boundaries and constantly defying previous scientific and philosophic beliefs that are constantly being formed in order to better define the human experience. It was in the early 1900’s when Dr. Albert Einstein first described the process of “stimulated photon emission”. One may even wonder if he foresaw the invention of the laser and its related applications.

One of the major contributions we’ve seen was first introduced in the 1970’s when lasers joined forces with computing systems. Within these systems, the role of a laser is of great importance. Lasers read, write, and memorize data for the computer. These ever-changing desk and lap machines consist of chips, wires, and connections. Historically, these components have been vital and are needed in order to allow electrical signals to flow. However, due to the limitations of these parts, bits and pieces of information can only travel so fast. This leads to what is often referred to as ‘traffic jams’ which are caused through the slow-processing of bits of information rather than barely mobile cars.

Instead of using electricity within computer systems to process information, lasers use light. Thus allowing systems to carry millions of signals rather than the lesser amount through electrical signals. A result of this could lead to more information being “pumped” or sent into a person’s private household or company location. Future business meetings could then be upgraded by allowing the projected images of phone callers to display on nearby walls or projector screens.

When it comes to guessing how far this rapid technology growth will take us, the only thing that seems to remain true is the fact that it all began with a brilliant idea from one dedicated individual. Technology is constantly transforming the modern world and is a transformation cycle that is guaranteed to continue for as long as time will allow.

How Lasers May Help Spacecraft Reach Mars in Less Than An Hour

Posted on by
Reply

When it comes to space travel, getting from point A to point B, at a faster rate is among the biggest challenges facing researchers, eager to explore new worlds. One researcher, however, thinks that he has found a solution that could reduce travel time to Mars to less than one hour, using laser-based technology.

The process, known as directed energy propulsion, involves focusing a laser on small spacecraft, speeding it up to a fraction of the speed of light. In doing so, trips to nearby systems can be potentially fractionalized, taking hours rather than months to reach a destination. This could all be possible thanks to the research of Phillip Lubin, a scientist working with NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts Program.

According to Lubin’s research, space travel via directed energy propulsion would require a small, “wafer-thin” spacecraft. The spacecraft would be equipped with a laser sail, just over three feet long called DE-STAR (Directed Energy System for Targeting of Asteroids and ExploRation.) A strong laser in Earth’s orbit would be fired at the sail, accelerating it into space.

The small size of the spacecraft (around 200 lbs) would not make directed energy propulsion an option for manned travel or heavy cargo. However, equipping the craft with simple instruments as a way to collect data in “fly-by” missions is something it is more than capable of. Another concern for the concept is the fact that without an equal laser at the opposite end of where the craft is headed, it would not stop. While this does limit the capabilities of the craft, using it almost exclusively as a research tool opens up the door for future, similar developments. Rather than relying on rocket fuel, accelerating through chemical propulsion, using light to obtain lightspeeds uses electromagnetic acceleration, in a fraction of the time. Lubin expands on this in the paper A Roadmap To Interstellar Flight, which details the research that earned Lubin and his team a proof-of-concept grant from NASA.

Should NASA greenlight direct energy propulsion for space travel, the proposed spacecraft could potentially expand past our neighboring planets and into nearby star systems, like Alpha Centauri. The speed made possible by directed energy propulsion could cut down the travel time to the star system, located approximately four light years away, to less than 20 years. “There is no known reason why we cannot do this,” Lubin says in “Going Interstellar,” a NASA 360 video, detailing the concept.

While shooting lasers at a spacecraft, headed toward Mars sounds like a science fiction concept, it is very much rooted in what is possible today. As the application of laser-based technologies becomes more commonplace in utilization, LIA continues to foster lasers and laser safety worldwide. For information on laser safety training and more, please visit www.lia.org