Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2020 Apr;25(4):1-9.
doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.25.4.040902.

Biomedical optics applications of advanced lasers and nonlinear optics

Christopher B Marble  1 , Vladislav V Yakovlev  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Biomedical optics applications of advanced lasers and nonlinear optics

Christopher B Marble et al. J Biomed Opt. 2020 Apr.

Abstract

Significance: 2019 SPIE Photonics West conference hosted over 5000 presentations. Some important presentations in the Industrial Laser, Laser Source and Application (LASE) and Optoelectronics, Photonic Materials and Devices (OPTO) sections of the SPIE Photonics West conference have a risk of being overlooked by the biomedical community despite their implications for the field of biophotonics. We review some recent advances in the area of development coherent radiation sources in the infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), and terahertz (THz) regimes.

Aim: Recent advances in coherent radiation sources in the IR, deep UV, and THz regimes were outlined, and the importance of each presentation to one or more promising biomedical applications was assessed.

Approach: Presentations and proceedings from the LASE and OPTO sections were reviewed for inclusion. Emphasis was placed on talks from the Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials and Devices XVIII conference, and the Terahertz, RF, Millimeter, and Submillimeter-Wave Technology and Applications XII conference. Conference sections that directly focused on biomedical applications were excluded.

Results: Enhanced IR supercontinuum generation with compact supercontinuum sources may allow for real-time biomarker detection and create new opportunities for imaging tissues using the third biological window (1600 to 1850 nm). Efficient methods to generate deep UV (200 to 260 nm) radiation allow for the study of biologically important molecules through techniques such as resonance Raman spectroscopy while avoiding fluorescence overlap. Likewise, novel and improved THz generation methods seek to bridge the "THz gap" that has previously limited biomedical applications.

Conclusions: Advances in coherent radiation sources in the IR, UV, and THz regimes have created new opportunities for biomedical optics research.

Keywords: infrared spectroscopy; nonlinear optics; terahertz generation; ultraviolet spectroscopy.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Strickland D., Mourou G., “Compression of amplified chirped optical pulses,” Opt. Commun. 55(6), 447–449 (1985).OPCOB810.1016/0030-4018(85)90151-8 - DOI
    1. Strickland D., “Nobel lecture: generating high-intensity ultrashort optical pulses,” Rev. Mod. Phys. 91, 030502 (2019).10.1103/RevModPhys.91.030502 - DOI
    1. Nuzzo V., et al. , “Self-focusing and spherical aberrations in corneal tissue during photodisruption by femtosecond laser,” J. Biomed. Opt. 15(3), 038003 (2010).JBOPFO10.1117/1.3455507 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kim B.-M., et al. , “Influence of pulse duration on ultrashort laser pulse ablation of biological tissues,” J. Biomed. Opt. 6(3), 332–338 (2001).JBOPFO10.1117/1.1381561 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nuzzo V., et al. , “In situ monitoring of second-harmonic generation in human corneas to compensate for femtosecond laser pulse attenuation in keratoplasty,” J. Biomed. Opt. 12(6), 064032 (2007).JBOPFO10.1117/1.2811951 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types