Laser scientist illuminates research

Scientists use colour to paint clearer pictures of the things they study. And as a result of a new laser system that rapidly delivers a pulsed rainbow of colours, those pictures will contain more information than ever before. Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Scott Sanders developed the system, which is highlighted in the May issue of Optics and Photonics News.

Laser light can indicate a research subject's characteristics. "We'd like to illuminate our subject with as many colours as possible, because we can get a lot of information about the subject by monitoring its colour sensitivity," says Sanders, who is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Engine Research Center (ERC).

At the ERC, combustion gases comprise one area of study. "They absorb certain colours of light and not others," he says. "And so if we put in one colour, we might see some absorption or not, but if we put in a lot of colours, we can see all of the signatures of all of the gasses in the engine, because they all have some unique colour dependence."