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High Powered Lasers Create Potential New Imaging Technique

Breakthrough:
Changing the color of metals by bombarding their surfaces with high energy laser bursts offers a range of potential applications, particularly in medicine.

Business:
High-Intensity Femtosecond Laser Laboratory, University of Rochester

The Story:
High Powered Lasers Create Potential New Imaging Technique

Prof Chunlei Guo from the University of Rochester has been heralded around the world for being able to change the color of metals by scouring their surfaces with ultra-intense beams of light known as femtosecond pulses.

Suddenly this optical alchemy could turn metals black or gold or blue in color without painting or burning. “We wanted to see what would happen to a metal's properties under different laser conditions and we stumbled on this way to completely alter the reflective properties of metals,” said Chunlei Guo, a professor of optics at the University of Rochester.

Diagnosing Diseases

The technology has a range of potential applications beyond the aesthetic including a recent discovery that could revolutionize the speed and precision of medical diagnosis. It could allow medical staff to see invading pathogens such as bacteria and viruses in unprecedented detail.

The key to the technology is short bursts of laser that only last about 60 millionths of a billionth of a second. This vaporizes atoms near the metal's surface, and nanostructures are formed that increase the surface area which captures radiation. Varying the intensity of the laser, and the length and number of pulses changes the appearance of the metal's color.

T-Rays

Prof Guo and his research assistant have discovered that these changed metals can detect electromagnetic radiation with frequencies in the terahertz range; the wavelengths of these T-rays are shorter than microwaves and had previously been difficult to spot. “Here, we experimentally demonstrated that the enhanced absorption extends well into the far infrared and terahertz frequencies," adds Guo.

So What’s the Big Deal?

T-rays are known to excite the rotational and vibrational states of organic compounds such as pathogens, making them ‘light up' like a Christmas tree and observable if you have a material that can absorb the frequency. And laser blasting metals makes them efficient in absorbing these T-rays.

Guo’s altered metals could be used in detectors to provide doctors with previously hidden and intricate views of the microbial world. Experts claim that the technology could examine cells and see details on the scale of one-thousandth of a millimeter and smaller.

In addition, unlike X-rays, T-rays are non-ionizing which means that people who are exposed to them are not at risk of tissue damage.

Other potential applications of Guo’s optical technology include reflective filters and customized colors for cars and other vehicles. And as the laser treated metals can absorb more of the electromagnetic spectrum they could be deployed where radiation gathering is important, such as in space probes.

The University of Rochester technology transfer office has received a large volume of inquiries about Guo’s work and has been discussing licensing opportunities with a number of corporates.

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