THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412020541
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
A team of Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility scientists has begun building a powerful laser that some of the nation's largest companies may use to improve industrial products.
Researchers at companies like DuPont, IBM, AT&T, Xerox and 3M believe the laser can be used to make such things as anti-static coatings for carpets and clothes, plastic and nylon surfaces that repel and kill mold and germs, and electronic circuit boards that withstand extreme temperatures.
Newport News officials hope high-tech companies will come to the city to use the laser, just as physicists from all over the world have arrived this year since CEBAF, a physics laboratory that bombards atomic nuclei with electrons, began operations.
If the laser works well and companies want one for themselves, two companies, including Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., have expressed interest in building them.
Researchers began building the prototype laser in October.
But because of cost considerations, no one knows when it might be completed.
CEBAF has $10 million - $5 million from the state and $5 million from the Energy Department - but needs another $27 million.
CEBAF officials believe that early progress on the laser's gun and other key components may convince federal officials to give additional funding.
The initial $10 million will run out in about two years, said Fred Dylla, CEBAF's technology transfer manager.
The laser being designed is known as a free-electron laser, or FEL.
Vanderbilt, Duke and Stanford universities already have FELs for medical and materials research.
But CEBAF's laser would be 100 times stronger and could be fine-tuned, giving it enough versatility to change the makeup of materials used in manufacturing.
As for potential applications, DuPont has developed a nylon covering that kills bacteria, an invention that could be used to package perishable food.
But mass production of the covering is too costly without laser technology.
``I don't think anyone questions that bringing the free-electron laser to CEBAF is essential to attracting high-tech businesses around it,'' said Robert Templin, director of the state Center for Innovative Technology.
The CIT is part of a consortium working on developing the laser at CEBAF. by CNB