News
UNAM researchers engineer laser fibers for medical operations
UNAM researchers created an infrared fiber that can be used in hospitals for laser surgery. The fibers deliver intense laser light inside the body where it can be used to remove malignant tissues with high precision.
The specialty fibers are designed and developed fully at UNAM, which has its own fiber tower custom built for the project. After the completion of the 3.5 meter high fiber tower in August last year, the researchers are now able to draw tens of meters of photonic band gap fibers from polymer-chalcogenide glass composites.
In distinction to the regular optical fibers, these new generation fibers guide electromagnetic radiation by a dielectric mirror structure embedded inside the hollow core. The mirror structure consists of micrometer sized alternating layer materials. Also, the hollow core of the fiber enables high power laser light transmission that would easily melt solid-core fibers.
The transmission wavelength of the fiber is determined by the multilayer thickness and thus can be scaled for a wide range of wavelengths. Currently fibers are targeted for CO2 (10.6 μm) and Holmium (2.1 μm) laser radiation delivery, which is frequently used in medical operations such as laryngology, urology (prostate removals).
The fibers are ready to be deployed to hospitals after clinical tests are completed. Researchers are currently investigating the effects of the laser radiation in specific tissues in order to optimize radiation level and duration.
The Infrared Laser Fiber project is funded by DPT, TUBITAK and Ministry of Health.
