CONSERWA

Laser weeding with based on high-power multi-QCL source

There is an urgent need to move towards sustainable weed management strategies. Agroecology offers a unique approach & seeks to transform food & agriculture systems, providing long-term solutions.

Weeds are expected to become more difficult to reliably control with herbicides under increasing CO2 and climate change (CC). Nevertheless, practical implications of climate change for the many non-chemical tactics integral to agroecological weeding have not been thoroughly addressed yet.

To overcome this concern, Conserwa supports the development of innovative, herbicide-free technologies, such as laser weeding. Alpes Lasers is collaborating with the Berlin-based company Escarda Technologies to develop a compact autonomous laser weeding robot that will cover the field while tracking and killing weeds.

In the frame of this collaboration, Alpes Lasers is developing high power mid-infrared sources, based on Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCL) and a novel beam combining scheme, that will be integrated on the robot. The laser sources developed in the frame of Conserwa leverage power scaling offered by the beam combiner and wavelength flexibility inherent to QCL technology. Such flexibility is extremely important for adapting to the field and the type of weeds.  Alpes Lasers is thrilled to tackle this very exciting challenge.