Project with Macquarie University and Aurizn will develop ocean LiDAR for measuring subsurface water temperature and depth

Semiconductor developer Blugass has signed an agreement with Macquarie University and defence company Aurizn to develop and test a new laser-based method to measure subsurface water temperature and depth.

BluGlass will provide high-power multi-transverse-mode GaN lasers to the 12-month blue ocean LiDAR project, partially funded by an Australia's Economic Accelerator (AEA) Seed Grant, to support the commercialisation of visible lasers in maritime applications.

The project will harness the advantages visible GaN lasers have over current lower-power and solid-state lasers, such as compact size, high power conversion efficiency, low manufacturing cost, wavelength tunability, beam divergence control, lifetime, and ability to shift wavelength rapidly.

The project, which is targeting useable underwater wavelengths in the blue and aqua-marine ranges will develop and run commercial trials of fully-functional blue ocean LiDAR technology.

The aim is to to improve maritime situational awareness in defence and environmental settings where satellites and marine buoys are currently used. It is hoped that blue ocean LiDAR will improve detection of underwater objects, provide increased accuracy in predicting coral bleaching events, and refinement of climate modelling technology.