FAIR CHARM technology presented at Night of open Knowledge (Nook) in Lübeck

 One of the key technologies researched in the EU Horizon 2020 project „FAIR CHARM“, the Spectro-temporal Laser Imaging by Diffractive Excitation (SLIDE) technology, was disseminated to the public during the Night of open Knowledge (NOOK) on November 12th, 2022. NOOK is a format promoting the open science initiative, where knowledge is made freely accessible and the interested minds can gain first hand access to cutting edge research and current burning topics. The NOOK was held in the Audimax at the University of Lübeck (UzL) campus.

A team of researchers from UzL (Dr. Jonas Jurkevicius, Christian Stock, Tonio Kutscher, and Florian Sommer) held a workshop-lecture "Ultrafast Rainbow Laser Vision", where the principle behind SLIDE was adopted to ultrafast Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR), a technology for autonomous driving and automated manufacturing. Attendants had the opportunity for a hands-on experience to explore a home-built LIDAR system with conventional two-axis galvo-scanner setup for LiDAR scanning rates of up to 8Hz. The participants explored how the inertia-limited galvanometric scanning fundamentally restricts the imaging frame-rate. The concept of inertia-free diffractive scanning, as used in SLIDE, was introduced, and SLIDE-scanning based LIDAR obtained at 2 kHz frame-rates was presented, so orders of magnitude faster than the conventional LiDAR. The inertia-free scanning principle was showcased by the recording of a rotating toy helicopter blade, which can be played back at slow-motion rates to reveal the up to 4 000 rpm motion of the blades (see gif below). For this purposes, the SLIDE microscopy system of the group of Co-PI Prof. Sebastian Karpf was set-up by directing the excitation beam outwards and detecting the echos with an avalanche photodiode (APD). 

As the crowd at Nook is well-informed about STEM subjects, the two-hour long event was filled with active discussions - in particular exploring the applicability of SLIDE inertia-free scanning technique, both in LIDAR and microscopy imaging. The application in the project FAIR CHARM and the prototype development of SLIDE by partner Medizinisches Laserzentrum Lübeck gGmbH (MLL) were presented to the public and were received with great interest and enthusiasm. This successful public demonstration shall be continued in form of an open workshop on SLIDE microscopy organised in Lübeck once the SLIDE prototype will have been completed.