Enter Mikhail Vorontsov, a Russian-born researcher and nationally-known expert in minimizing the atmospheric effects on laser beams.
As the new endowed chair at the University of Dayton’s Ladar and Optical Communications Institute, Vorontsov brings with him a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Army to study how lasers could transmit text, audio and images almost instantly in the heat of conflict.
To test the concept, Vorontsov’s team recently flashed a laser beam 149 kilometers from a mountain top near Hilo, Hawaii, to an Air Force telescope on Maui, using just 100 milliwatts of energy, or a fraction of what it takes to burn a lightbulb.
Vorontsov will test a similar laser connection between his lab in the College Park Center on Brown Street and the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Dayton.
Overcoming atmospheric conditions isn’t as simple as concentrating the laser beam. If the beam is too powerful, “you can burn the telescope” on the receiving end, he said.
Instead, he uses a wider beam and multiple telescopes, with a computer that synchronizes the scattered data on the incoming beam into useful information.
Before coming to UD, Vorontsov worked in Army research laboratories at New Mexico State University and the University of Maryland.
The 52-year-old native of Novgorod, Russia, also was a professor at Moscow State University in the International Laser Center.
He believes his team’s works could someday find practical medical uses, such as transmitting X-ray images quickly between medical facilities, or “anywhere you need a fast, secure connection to transmit very high-resolution images.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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