MONTREAL -- In an industrial sector of the South Shore town of Varennes lies a low-slung blue and grey building housing a facility known as the Advanced Laser Light Source, a component of National Institute of Scientific Research.
Unlike many other centres of its ilk, the ALLS performs much of its scientific mission without a predetermined outcome for its findings.
“The science we’re doing here? We don’t know their applications for the short-term or the mid-term,” said Francois Legare, the director of the Advanced Laser Light Source.
When CTV News visited the facility researchers looked at lasers as they shot through gases and solid objects in a darkened laboratory. Those researchers believe they may find useful applications for laser technology at airport security stations, x-rays in hospitals and data processing microchips, which function with magnetic patterns.
“If we’re able to use lasers to control those patterns, we could increase the speed of data processing by hundreds of times,” said Katherine Legare, an INRS researcher.
Recently the ALLS got a huge feather in its cap when it became the only Canadian institution to join LaserNetUS, a consortium of universities aiming to advance research in laser technology.
In June, about 30 researchers will come to ALLS to carry out work using its laser facilities.
In the meantime, the researchers at ALLS say the “playground” like atmosphere helps them gain knowledge they hope could one day solve age-old problems like streamlining traffic.
“The funny thing is, it’s a big playground for photons,” said INRS Research Associate Heide Ibrahim. Her research looks at the movement of an atom through a molecule.
“When I add light to a molecule, it’s like giving chocolate to children,” she said, laughing.
ALLS already attracts about 30 experts a year from around the world like Ibrahim to test their ideas.
“I’m generating knowledge,” she added, “with this knowledge, we don’t know where it takes us.”
