Recent Physics PhD Recipient Publishes Color Holography Research in Prestigious Journal

Dr. Ramesh Giri, PhD recipient in Physics, published an article in a recent issue of Scientific Reports titled “The color of aerosol particles.” Professor Matt Berg, Giri’s research advisor, contributed to the paper.

While conventional digital in-line holography (DIH) provides information about an aerosol’s particle size and shape, it does not tell its material composition. Understanding the particle’s morphology and material properties are crucial in several fields including atmospheric science, manufacturing, and healthcare.

In this paper, Giri discusses the method he developed to render color images by forming holograms with light backscattered by an aerosol particle in three primary colors – red, green and blue – to identify the materials in the aerosol particle based on the color observed. Holograms formed by the light from these individual freely flowing particles were then reconstructed and combined to produce a color particle image.

Color holographic images of various mineral dust aerosol particles. The particle images are shown along with a color map quantifying the different colors present in each particle image.

There remains a need for improving methods used to characterize aerosols in general and Giri’s research provides a path forward in helping us learn more about them in many fields that impact our world such as researching combustion particles, wind-blown mineral dust, and water droplets in the atmosphere that absorb and scatter sunlight and affect climate; discovering how mineral dust and biological particles impact our health; and recognizing how pathogens spread and cause disease in agricultural crops, livestock, and humans.

Giri’s article can be accessed at https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-28823-6.