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How lasers can impact our planet Jana Langhans of LIA discusses how lasers are being used across the globe to benefit the environment
Every year there are new reports on the damage done to our planet, but there is also some hope in the development of new technologies. Although it would never be feasible to cover all of the ways that lasers are being used to benefit our planet, this article hopes to shed light on at least a few through two different methods: research and application.
Research One of the ways we see lasers being used to better the environment is through research. Research is always ongoing and is constantly improving the way we are able to live.
Lidar (light detection and ranging) specifically has played a significant role in many projects to study the earth. It uses an airborne laser to send pulses of light that are reflected from the Earth’s surface and therefore portrays a very precise image of what the surface of the Earth looks like. In one particular project, researchers studied forest regions in the Amazon that are being degraded as a result of human interference such as logging or timber extraction. These and other tropical forests are important to supporting life on the planet because their trees take carbon dioxide from the air and they also play a vital role in the water cycle. The results of this study showed that the
degraded area of forests did, in fact, hold less water and absorb less carbon. Not only is this unfortunate for the atmosphere, but it also means that the forests themselves are more prone to catch fire, leading to further loss of trees and wildlife that is incredibly difficult to restore. Lidar does not only have to be aimed at
the ground, however. It has been used as a part of many research studies into our air,
“Laser cleaning is becoming more popular for stripping coatings off of surfaces, as opposed to using harmful chemicals ”
tracking precipitation and weather patterns. It also helps in detecting hazardous particles in the atmosphere. NASA has done some research with this, sending a lidar instrument to study the atmosphere as early as the mid-1990s. Another laser technology that has proved
useful for studying our environment is called Raman scattering microscopy. A company called LaserLaB Amsterdam has helped in
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researching and identifying the types of microplastics that gather in water using this method. They identified each polymer particle by the vibrations of the scattered light that comes through it when shot with a laser. This gives each particle its own unique ‘fingerprint’, so that researchers were able to identify what kind of pollutants were caught in a filter they had put in the water. Another way to potentially help in the cleaning of water is using microorganisms to fight incidents such as oil spills. Using Raman optical trapping, micro-organisms can be studied individually to see which types and strains are most effective against certain waste and pollutants. This can also be used in soils. A team of scientists from Manchester University, using laser- based imaging techniques at the Central Laser Facility, conducted a study of
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