Graphic depicting a new laser-based technology, which can detect potentially harmfful aerosols, as the flaming Eye of Sauron. Credit: Greg Rieker
Key points:
- A newly funded project—Standoff Aerosol measUrement Remote Optical Network (SAURON)—aims to detect hazardous aerosols.
- SAURON incorporates frequency comb laser and integrated photonic technologies to collect and transmit information using light.
- The overall project goal is to design an easily deployable device that protects people from a range of airborne threats.
Scientist aim to create an “all-seeing eye” that can detect hazardous aerosols. Their effort, Standoff Aerosol measUrement Remote Optical Network (SAURON), which takes its name from the “The Lord of the Rings” villain, recently received funding from the Intelligence Advanced Research Project Activity of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
SAURON’s goal is to zoom in on aerosols to detect hazardous chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, ammonium nitrate, and fentanyl. Researchers designed SAURON with technology called a frequency comb laser. This laser technology acts like a fingerprint scanner for aerosols to detect signals from minute concentrations of particles or gases in the air.
Currently, the researchers are refining their technology by incorporating new integrated photonics and will design their SAURON device on small chips that transmit information via light beams.
“They are like traditional silicon computer chips, but with light being generated, moving around and interacting in ways that make it useful for sensing,” explained Scott Diddams, professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
SAURON is an exciting example of researchers using fundamental science advances to develop tangible technologies that can one day safeguard people. In the near future, the team hopes their battery-operated device will be easily deployable to protect people from various airborne threats including industrial accidents and potential chemical attacks.
“These lasers will run off of batteries, so you can deploy them at an airport, on city blocks or in industrial sites where they use hazardous materials,” said Diddams. “Right off the bat, people would know if there was a failure or a leak.”