Ultrafast Laser Research Could Lead to New Diagnostic ApplicationsUltrafast Laser Research Could Lead to New Diagnostic Applications

Researchers at Purdue University are exploring the use of ultrafast laser pulses that could be used for new applications in biosensors as well as manufacturing, diagnostics, and other research. The technology could be used to create novel features and surface textures in a variety of materials including metals and ceramics.

December 19, 2011

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Researchers at Purdue University are exploring the use of ultrafast laser pulses that could be used for new applications in biosensors, diagnostics, and manufacturing. The technology could be used to create novel features and surface textures in a variety of materials including metals and ceramics. The technology could also be used to evaporate cutaneous lesions with minimal peripheral damage. 

“A lot of times, what happens in biological research is that researchers use plasma coming out of a target to do analysis,” explained Yung Shin, PhD, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of Purdue University's Center for Laser-Based Manufacturing. “This technique that we have developed can be used potentially to amplify the plasma field and to get a much stronger signal. And, that way, you can do more accurate analysis.” Shin added that that the technique also could be used to “get a much better time resolution” than what other researchers have been able to get. “And you can actually get detailed motion analysis of, say, electrons and ions, and a much finer time resolution.” Shin said that the technology could be potentially used for a variety of applications in life sciences.

The lasers used in the research pulse at durations of 100 femtoseconds of a second, leading electrons to temporarily reach temperatures exceeding 60,000°C. When imaged with a high-speed camera, the pulses are found to cause tiny mushroom clouds similar to those caused by nuclear explosion. The high-speed images are helpful in understanding how plasma expands when a material is exposed to ultrafast laser pulses. One of the findings of the research is that a cloud forms immediately before the mushroom cloud, which interferes with the laser pulses. Discovering how to eliminate this interference could enable the technology to be used for a variety of industrial applications including materials and chemical processing and machining. In addition, the technology could be potentially used to monitor chemical and atomic reactions at an unprecedented scale. To learn more about the early plasma changes, the scientists tracked the movement of millions of individual atoms in the plasma. 

The research was detailed in a paper published online on December 6 in Applied Physics Letters and in September in the journal Physics of Plasmas. "We found the formation of early plasma has very significant bearing on the use of ultrashort pulse lasers because it partially blocks the laser beam," Shin said in a press release. "The early plasma changes the optical properties of air, but the mechanism is still largely unknown."

The Shin’s team has been working on this research for approximately four of five years.

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