Having received his PhD from the California Institute of Technology, he initially applied his knowledge of high-energy excimer lasers in private sector organizations such as General Atomics, where he contributed to the ORION nuclear spaceship program.
Asmus then pioneered the use of holography, lasers, ultrasonic imaging, digital image processing, and nuclear magnetic resonance in art conservation, working to preserve or investigate works as diverse as the statues in Venice, frescoes of the California State Capitol, petroglyphs in Utah's Arches National Park, portraits by Rembrandt, the Terracotta Army in Xi'an, China, and the Mona Lisa.
[4] That same year, Asmus worked with holography pioneer Ralph Wuerker, with whom he "proved the feasibility of creating full-size holograms of statuary, permitting three-dimensional reproductions of the world's sculptural masterpieces".
[3] His application of complex scientific devices to art enabled Asmus to work on many of the world's most famous cultural objects, including the Mona Lisa.
[11] Pedretti had proposed that Leonardo had originally painted the Mona Lisa bare-breasted, and Asmus believed that he could determine whether this theory was correct, "using computer image enhancement techniques developed for interpreting satellite photographs".
[14] During this same period, Asmus also developed a plan to restore the Qin dynasty Terracotta Army in Xi'an, China,[13] and to piece together a Renaissance fresco by Andrea Mantegna shattered by bombing in World War II.