March 04, 2018
At the 6th International Conference on Photonics, Optics and Laser Technology –Photoptics, held in Madeira, Portugal. Dr. Salman Noach, Head of the Solid State Laser Laboratory at Jerusalem College of Technology (JCT), presented an innovative laser system developed in his lab. Tunable watt-level narrow bandwidth Tm:YAP laser. Maximal output power of 3.88 W at 1934 nm was measured, obtaining a slope efficiency of 44.8% for a maximal absorbed pump power of 12W. The tunability range is 35nm (1917-1951nm) and the spectral bandwidth is 0.15nm .
This is the first time that the three characteristics: high power, relatively wide spectral range, and narrow bandwidth come together in a single laser system.
This is of great importance in the field of Biomedical since the absorption of the human tissue varies significantly around these wavelengths. By choosing the appropriate wavelength, the penetration depth in the tissue can be controlled and thus selective penetration can be obtained, thereby enabling avoidance of undesirable areas during surgical intervention. One can create a unique scalpel for surgical treatment; by changing the wavelength the penetration depth can be controlled.
The concept was examined in laboratory experiments and recently a request was submitted for a joint research grant with Dr. Dov wengrower from Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, in order to build a prototype that could be tested with live tissue for the removal of tumors in the fields of gastroenterology.
The project was carried out by two students from Dr. Salman's research group, Uzziel Sheintop, and Eytan Perez.
The study was recently published in APPLIDE OPTICS (Vol. 57, No. 6 / 20 February 2018 )
https://www.osapublishing.org/ao/abstract.cfm?uri=ao-57-6-1468
