Brussels, Belgium--WideLase, a recently launched project comprising European scientists and engineers, is aiming to develop a new generation of lasers for sensing—particularly for detection and monitoring of hazardous organic substances.
Two industrial partners of the WideLase project will validate technical findings in important safety applications: Airoptic (Poland) will investigate a real-time online monitoring instrument for formaldehyde, which has great commercial potential due to emission standards being enforced on products that emit it, as well as pursue remote detection of drunk driving. Also, Norsk Elektro Optikk (Norway) will investigate a hydrocarbon leak finder to prevent fire hazards and impacts on world climate and global warming by reducing methane emissions.
Consortium partners Nanoplus (Germany) and Mach8 Lasers (The Netherlands) are responsible for mono-mode laser development within the project, and will investigate two innovative concepts for wide tunability and unprecedented performance in the mid-infrared (MIR) wavelength range between 3.3 and 7.0 μm.
WideLase's four industrial partners have support from academic partners at the University of Würzburg (Germany) and Wroclaw University of Technology (Poland), laying the project foundation by design, growth, and characterization of novel semiconductor structures for mono-mode laser fabrication. What's more, project coordinator Nanoplus signed a three-year grant agreement totaling €2.2 million from the EU as part of the 7th Framework Programme.
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