Scientists from Russia, Switzerland turned optical fibre into micro-lantern for studying blood vessels
Researchers from Russia and Switzerland have discovered that hollow optical fibres used for medical probes can be transformed into miniature lanterns that can illuminate blood vessels and other cavities inside the body when quantum dots and special polymer membranes are embedded in the material, TASS reports
It is noted that a medical probe equipped with the proposed light source can be used to examine surfaces, visualise biological tissues and remove pathological formations using photodynamic therapy, among other applications. The resulting optical system is also promising for creating optically pumped lasers that operate over a fairly wide wavelength range.
In theory, such glass structures could be used as very thin, multifunctional probes for studying hollow organs; however, instruments and sensors would need to be integrated into them first. The researchers have taken a significant step towards solving this problem by developing an approach that utilises hollow-core optical fibres as the basis for highly compact and bright light sources, including tunable-wavelength lasers.
