UCF researcher gets $1 million US Army grant for UV laser cleaning tech

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Updated  November 15, 2024 8:58pm EST
FOX 35 Orlando
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UCF researcher studying UV laser cleaning tech

Dr. Leland Nordin and his team at the University of Central Florida are using high-intensity lasers of UVC light to kill viruses and bacteria on surfaces. With the help of a $1 million U.S. Army grant, the researchers hope this laser technology can one day help the world stay clean.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Dr. Leland Nordin and his team at the University of Central Florida are using high-intensity lasers of UVC light to kill viruses and bacteria on surfaces. 

With the help of a $1 million U.S. Army grant, the researchers hope this laser technology can one day help the world stay clean. 

"This is a way to really flood a whole room and laser them down, essentially," Nordin said.

UCF graduate research assistant Biridiana Rodriguez demonstrated a tiny pinpoint of light, no bigger than the tip of a needle, on a crystal wafer. Under a microscope, the light shone brightly, just one of thousands of diodes on the thin wafer. 

"It essentially deactivates them or kills them in the same way it would hurt our skin. Like UVA or UVB rips them apart from intense energy. So why doesn't it hurt our skin in the same way? It's because our skin is thick enough," Nordin said.

Looking at that same light under a microscope shows how strong a single laser diode can shine. Dr. Nordin is working to make similar laser wafers that emit the invisible UVC light. Researchers use their equipment to actually grow their lasers, and they do it by creating wafers. When the wafer is attached to a power source, it can create a laser light.

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The UVC laser light is much more powerful than the simple ultraviolet light bulbs that people used to disinfect surfaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"You can do sweeps of it across a whole room, and because it's more strong and focused, you really have to do it a little bit to clean a room, rather than bathing a whole room in light for a while," Nordin said.

The laser technology could be used to clean rooms, treat water, and sterilize equipment. Researchers say the technology can also be used to transmit messages across long distances. The money is a five-year grant that will support personnel and buy materials for the project. Rodriguez said it was a simple fix that could save lives. 

"You have something very simple, such a simple piece. They're so small and precise, and we'll see right now, it's producing light."

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