Bomb-Sniffing Lasers

[Ezcal]

Scientists stumble upon bomb-sniffing laser with a boomerang effect -- Engadget

Using a 226nm UV pump laser, researchers at Princeton University managed to excite oxygen atoms to the point that they emit infrared light along the same channel as the original beam, except this time pointed back where it came from. Since the return beam's chemistry depends on the particles in the air to generate the return beam, the "backward laser" could potentially carry the signature of those particles back to the source and help identify them there.

Cool! It's like a laser mirror, made out of thin air.

Now, the real question is: When will we see these UV lasers become available to us hobbyists?

 

[HIMNL9]

It depend from your wallet, i suppose ..... CNI already have 266nm units, but for sure, not cheap .....