Method and apparatus for rapid sterilization of a room

Abstract

Methods and systems for sterilizing a room are disclosed, including using a laser positioned within a housing to generate a pulsed laser beam; and intercepting the pulsed laser beam with a scattering optical element to substantially isotropically scatter the radiation of the pulsed laser beam outside the housing to sterilize the room. The scattering optical element comprises a hollow fused silica bulb filled with solid fused silica spheres or a fiber optic bundle and in some embodiments the scattering optical element is rotated. The pulsed laser beam comprises a wavelength ranging between about 200 nm to about 320 nm and in some embodiments comprises nanosecond or picosecond light pulses. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.