The anthropogenic emission of CFCs into the atmosphere over the past few decades has led to a reduction in the concentration of ozone in the stratosphere. Serious environmental damage may result. Even if the emission is stopped as proposed, the long lifetimes of the CFCs in the atmosphere will result in a deleterious loss of ozone for up to a century. A means for removing these in a shorter time is explored. The method used is induced dissociation by lasers of the CFCs in the troposphere, which prevents them from reaching the stratosphere.

Date Published: 1 May 1992
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 1628, Intense Laser Beams, (1 May 1992); doi: 10.1117/12.58993

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1628:
Intense Laser Beams
Richard C. Wade; Peter B. Ulrich, Editor(s)