Can large-output lasers be used to identify materials at long distances? U-M electrical engineer Mohammed Islam is working to create lasers that have an output power of up to 50 watts, allowing them to be used to measure items that are more than a kilometer away.
Islam hopes these fiber lasers will provide a broadband solution for identification that has applications in a variety fields, ranging from medicine to environmental studies.
ABOUT THE PROFESSOR: Mohammed Islam is a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. His current research interests include mid-infrared laser sources and their applications in fiber-to-the-home, advanced semiconductor process control, combustion monitoring, infrared counter-measures, chemical sensing and bio-medical selective laser ablation. Another area of this current work relates to ultra-high resolution imaging of automobile parts, such as transmissions. He also has on-going work in modulators and new architectures for fiber to the home systems. He works in the Optics and Photonics Lab.
