Linking Lasers and Art

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (8/25/99) -- People do not typically associate lasers and artwork, but Meg Abraham, who works in the Electronics Technology Center at The Aerospace Corporation, is trying to change that.

Abraham has spent about a year working to secure the transfer of a YAG laser from The Aerospace Corporation to the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training.

A division of the National Park Service, the center was created by Congress to address the needs of implementing the National Historic Preservation Act of 1992.

The center employs technological resources to develop new ways to enhance efforts to conserve and preserve American artifacts.

Destined for Museum of Art

The center decided that the YAG laser, shorthand for yttrium aluminum garnet, should go to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The transfer is scheduled for the first of 2000 and is also to include a scanning electron microscope with related fixtures.

Abraham said the laser, originally used to conduct reliability studies, is now obsolete for those applications and is considered "surplus to Aerospace needs."

She said the transfer is an example of "Aerospace using surplus equipment to enable other government agencies to conduct research while saving taxpayer dollars." Aerospace property and contracts departments are working with the appropriate government offices to assist with the transfer.

Abraham said the main goal of the upcoming project is to investigate the use of lasers to clean monuments.

Traditional Methods Destructive

The most common cleaning methods involve sandblasting or a low-pressure water wash. Abraham said that traditional cleaning methods are destructive to stone that has been eroded by acid rain and other pollutants.

"Marble surfaces become fragile and turn to gypsum -- which has a texture similar to that of a sugar cube -- when exposed to modern pollutants," Abraham said. "By sandblasting or water-washing marble statues we are changing their original shape."

Lasers, she said, have proven less harmful in restoration efforts than traditional methods and have been used to clean cathedrals in many parts of Europe, including France, Italy and the United Kingdom. "There is also a laser conservation research facility on Crete," she said.

The center chose the Los Angeles County Museum of Art over other facilities that might have participated in this research for various reasons, she said.

Out West

"When the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training was created, it was mandated that money be reinvested into local communities," Abraham said. "Because many of the center's projects have been conducted out of the East Coast, they felt they would like to center something out West."

Other reasons for the decision include the large and diverse art collection held by the museum, the availability of materials scientists on staff, the presence of an onsite conservation research laboratory, and the museum's proximity to many other museums and research facilities.

Until now much of the research on laser use in conservation efforts has been focused on stone and cement, but Abraham said the center is considering research on the use of lasers for restoring paintings and other works of art as well.