THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 17, 1995 TAG: 9504170122
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
Think of lasers, and you might think of ``Star Wars'' - the science fiction movie or the shield-in-the-sky defense system. Chances are you don't think of underwear, or shirts, or stain-resistant carpet.
But you should, say physicists at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, also known as CEBAF. Because by century's end, a ``free electron'' laser spun off from that facility's nuclear research could reduce by 100 times the cost of fabric manufacture and processing.
Together with industrial partners, universities, state agencies and local governments, CEBAF has presented a $27 million proposal to the Department of Energy to construct a prototype laser processing center in Newport News.
Private sources would kick in an additional $10 million worth of equipment and technical support. The state would likewise contribute $5 million, bringing the project's total cost to $42 million.
``Processing with light offers some exciting opportunities,'' said Michael J. Kelley, a senior research scientist with DuPont. ``We need to keep movingO ahead of competitors. The free electron laser technology developed at CEBAF was the only prospect on the books. Nobody has ever had a laser with this power before.''
If the laser performs as advertised, the manufacturing industry could do away with most environmentally hazardous, wet-chemical treatments that are now used to soften fibers and prepare materials for dyeing. There would be far fewer toxins to dispose of and fewer potentially deadly liquids to store.
The packaging, electronics and materials industries could also incorporate free electron lasers into their respective manufacturing operations. Laser treatment could be used, for example, to make food packaging more resistant to microbes. Micromachining of metal surfaces and more efficient processing of semiconductors are possible uses.
``This is something that could grow,'' Kelley said. ``Other applications will appear.''
The laser is called ``free electron'' because the electrons that cause laser light to be emitted are not bound up in a solid, liquid or gas, as is the case in other types of lasers.
Light produced by lasers is far more focused and intense than that produced by household light bulbs.
That is the result of energy injected into atoms of a particular substance. As the atoms are excited by additional energy, they return to their original state of equilibrium by emitting light. If done systematically, the result is a narrow, powerful light beam.
In the case of CEBAF's free electron laser, radio waves would act upon a stream of electrons as the electrons circulate around an oval track - a mini version of the CEBAF particle accelerator. A device called a wiggler would convert electron energy into coherent light energy.
Unlike its bigger progenitor, however, which accelerates a stream of electrons along an elliptical, underground course, the free electron laser will not probe the inner workings of the atom.
A free electron laser produces light that can be tuned to particular frequencies, or light wavelengths. In turn, when that light is shined on a material - abrading fabric for instance, to make it softer, or better able to absorb smaller quantities of dye without losing color intensity - the surface properties of that material can be quickly and cheaply changed.
In converting electric power to light energy, free electron lasers are 10 times more efficient than their traditional counterparts, says H. Frederick Dylla, CEBAF technology transfer manager.
``You can make a very high-power laser system,'' he said. ``You can make that laser light very efficient and you can tune the wavelength. All of those advantages are very useful if you're talking about making an industrial tool.''
The CEBAF laser project has been almost five years in the making.
By March 1991, CEBAF scientists and representatives from industry groups had begun to discuss the device's technical specifications. Today, a 15-member consortium that includes DuPont, AT&T, IBM, Xerox and Newport News Shipbuilding is working to fully commercialize free electron laser technology.
NASA also is keenly interested in the device. The space agency could use it to develop or improve a wide range of space-age materials that would be incorporated into the engines, frames and skin of spacecraft, including the next generation of rocket boosters now on the drawing boards.
``The chances of success - that these folks (at CEBAF) can build a free electron laser - are great,'' Kelley said. ``They've already done 80 to 90 percent of it, depending on how you assess the pieces. We would all like to see the first big machine here, with the people who understand the technology.''
CEBAF engineers are in the process of building a key laser component, which is due to be tested this summer. Full-scale construction would take at least three years, said Dylla, the tech transfer manager.
The U.S. Department of Energy will determine the device's final fate by approving or denying federal funding for the bulk of the project. A decision is due by the end of May. ILLUSTRATION: HOME-GROWN LASER TO REVOLUTIONIZE MANUFACTURING
Text and Research by JIM SCHULTZ; Graphic by ROBERT D. VOROS/Staff
SOURCE: CEBAF
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
by CNB