A laser that will help better understand the combustion process in jet engines and reduce emissions and pollution is being developed as part of a research project at the University of Southampton’s Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC). The £2.7 million (about $4.15 million) project, called FLITES (fiber-laser imaging of gas turbine exhaust species), is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and will be led by the University of Manchester. It will map various chemical species and soot in the exhaust plume of jet engines, enabling ORC researchers to optimize the combustion process and usher in the possibility for substitution of fossil fuels with bio-fuels. (Image: University of Southampton ORC) According to ORC, FLITES aims to establish a world-leading capability to map several exhaust species from airplanes using tomographic imaging. The University of Strathclyde and commercial partners including Rolls-Royce, Shell, Covesion, Fianium and OptoSci also will work on the four-year study, motivated by lower-cost engine evaluation and monitoring and by reduced carbon dioxide emissions and pollution. The project is expected to enhance turbine-related research and development capacity in both academia and industry by opening up access to exhaust plume chemistry. It will underpin a new phase of low-net-carbon development under way in aviation, based on bio-derived fuels and that entails extensive research in turbine engineering and combustion, and fuel product formulation. For more information, visit: www.orc.soton.ac.uk