October 29. /TASS/. Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University and Saratov State University teamed up with colleagues from Taiwan and found a way to reduce the thickness of a laser scalpel by half, giving it a curvilinear shape. According to the press service of Tomsk Polytechnic University, this will expand the possibilities of its application in medicine.
"Scientists of Tomsk Polytechnic University with the participation of Saratov State University, together with colleagues from Taiwan, proposed to create a laser 'blade' for a medical scalpel with a given curved shape using a photonic 'hook'. Currentlly there are laser scalpels only with an axisymmetric focus area, that is, their blade is cylindrical. According to scientists, changing the shape of the blade will expand the possibilities of using the laser in medicine, while it is approximately two times thinner than the cylindrical version," said the statement.
The shapes of a conventional surgical scalpel vary, and doctors choose them for a specific task. With a laser scalpel, surgeons cut or remove tissue. Its beam raises the temperature in a limited area up to 400°С, it instantly burns out, and small blood vessels along the edges of the cut are "sealed". The advantages of a laser scalpel are also that the incisions are very thin and the radiation is sterile.
"In order to bend the laser beam, we proposed one of the simplest possible solutions: place an amplitude or phase mask at the end of the fiber. This is a thin plate made of metal or dielectric material, like glass. The mask redistributes the energy flow inside the fiber and forms a curved region of radiation localization at the end of the fiber, that is, a photonic 'hook'. Simulation showed that such a curved blade has a length of up to three millimeters, its thickness is about 500 microns (a human hair has a diameter of 100 microns — TASS) ", the press service quoted the project manager, Professor of the Department of Electronic Engineering at TPU, Igor Minin.
The research was supported by a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. An article on the theoretical substantiation of the concept was published in the Journal of Biophotonics, the experimental part will be carried out by the National Yang-Ming University scientists (Taiwan).