Fluorescence imager examines ocean floor

The sea is the Earth's ultimate repository. It swallows natural and artificial matter alike—both from rivers and directly from above—and cloaks its holdings in silt and gloom. Much of interest lies beneath the waves, but attempts to image what is on the ocean floor are hindered by absorption and scattering in ocean water. One way around the problem of scatter is the use of a pulsed laser as an illuminator and a time-gated receiver as an imager. Because lasers excite fluorescence, such a system can collect hyperspectral data that reveals the makeup of objects lying in the field of view.