Laser Systems developed for cancer cell detection

Nowadays researchers develop a totally new type of laser system that allows the detection and killing of tumor cells from the outside of the shin. Thus, preventing cancer cells from spreading to other parts of the body through the blood. Despite the fact that this laser device is still far from becoming a commercial diagnostic tool, the laser systems demonstrate sensitivity of up to 1,000 times higher than traditional techniques used to find tumor cells in the blood.

Importance of the novel System development

It should be noted that generally blood samples are taken to test cancer spread. However, quite often these tests cannot detect tumor cells even if they are present in a single sample, particularly, in the early form of cancer. That is why the detection of the cell by a laser system plays a crucial role. It is often too late to make effective treatment of patients since cell detection was late.

The novel laser technology is a non-invasive method of cancer cell detection that enables the examination of larger quantities of blood with a greater level of sensitivity. Firstly, such a laser system was tested in the lab, then on animals, and recently brought to clinical trials in humans.

The principle of the laser technology operation is based on the use of light pulses produced by a laser beam on the outside of the skin to heat up cells in the blood. Herewith, the laser beam affects only melanoma cells — not healthy ones — because of a dark pigment (melanin) absorbing the light located in these cells. Also, the laser system uses an ultrasound technique for the detection of the teensy, tiny waves emitted by this heating effect.

Results of the newly developed Laser Systems

Thus, 28 light-skinned patients who had melanoma and 19 healthy volunteers who didn’t have melanoma tested the laser system technology. To be precise, doctors shone the laser beam onto the patients’ hands and detected that within 10 seconds to 60 minutes, the laser system could find cancer cells in 27 out of 28 cases.

The laser device didn’t demonstrate any false positives on the healthy patients, and the laser did not provoke safety concerns or side effects. Moreover, laser technology does not harm the skin where cells produce melanin naturally. The main reason for it depends on the laser beam light that affects a relatively large area on the skin, so it is not focused enough on the skin to damage these cells.

An additional benefit of the developed laser system includes fewer circulating tumor cells after the treatment, in spite of the fact that the researchers’ purpose was diagnosing rather than treating cancer, nevertheless, the laser beam seemed able to kill the cancer cells even at the low energy. The future aim of laser technology research is its development to identify circulating tumor cells released by cancers other than melanoma as well as in people with darker skin.

Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its own technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com

Laser system that allows detecting enemies by their heartbeat

Laser Systems detect enemies by the heartbeatIt is a well-known fact that every person on the Earth is unique, that is why they have unique fingerprints and even a unique heartbeat. This unique characteristic has become a concept to the US military’s newest identification device based on the laser system.

To be more precise, the US Department of Defense uses laser system technology to design an infrared laser module that allows detecting enemy combatants from a distance by scanning their heartbeats. The principle of the laser system device is based on the process of laser vibrometry or non-contact vibration measurements to identify the movement of the surface evoked by a person’s heartbeat.

It should be noted that the improved laser technology is not a novel one, the laser device is the development of the existing technology that includes the use of already available tools for measuring vibrations in distant structures such as wind turbines. The researchers from the US Department of Defense confirm that the designed laser system can penetrate clothing and reach a positive detection about 95% of the time from up to 200 meters (650 feet) away, herewith, the presented laser technology is not limited and can be extended in the nearest future.

Of course, the opportunity to use such a laser device from space remains unreal but longer distances are possible. Additionally, this laser technology is considered to be still in its early stages because the laser system is not able to penetrate thick clothing yet and it is required that a person sit or stand in one place for it to operate (about 30 seconds for reading begins).

One more challenge is the necessity to create a cardiac signature database as well as other various biometric identification techniques ranging from facial recognition to retinal scans. Despite the fact that this laser product is not ideal and requires some improvements, cardiac signature identification provides more benefits than some conventional identification techniques, so it is impossible to change someone’s heartbeat as face or fingerprints can.

It was planned to combine the laser technology with other identification techniques creating a possibility to measure the unique characteristic of cardiac signatures at a distance, thus, the laser system offers additional biometric identification when environmental conditions and changes in facial appearance remain inefficient.

Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its own technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com

Fiber laser systems promote product technologies

Fiber Laser Systems promote product technologiesSuch advantages of fiber lasers as throughput, reliability, and low operational cost make laser systems a powerhouse in the manufacturing industries where it is necessary to cut, weld, mark, and micromachine materials. Herewith, fiber laser systems differ from traditional industrial lasers by their unique features. For example, high-power single-mode laser systems and widely flexible pulsed fiber lasers allow solving various process challenges by electronic control of operating parameters.

The principle of fiber laser operation is based on converting relatively low-brightness pump light emitted by laser diodes into high-brightness output, where the output laser beam quality is often the only spatial mode enabled by the physics of the fiber laser system design. The uniqueness of fiber lasers among other types of lasers includes such features as a sealed optical cavity and a single-mode, guided-wave medium.

It should be noted that a sealed optical path in modern fiber laser systems provides immunity to environmental contamination and enables not to carry out any adjustment. High-power laser system’s components include single-mode laser modules into high-brightness delivery fiber in fused fiber combiners. Thus, fiber lasers are considered to be a highly reliable laser technology that offers minimal variation over time and temperature.

The thing is that the use of sealed pump diodes and non-darkening fiber optic technology creates a laser system that is possible to be used continuously in production for years without any adjustment or degradation. For example, numerous industrial manufacturers use fiber lasers or disk lasers for metal cutting and welding because of the practically equal power, laser beam quality, wavelength, reliability, and beam delivery options.

The most common applications of fiber laser systems include high-speed remote welding because there is no need for the contact process during laser system welding, that is why the laser technology includes no tool wear. Additionally, fiber lasers allow the joining of various materials due to the brightness and dynamic capabilities of laser systems that were considered to be unweldable before.

Also, now it is possible to employ the same fiber laser in the same optical configuration for a different range of materials processing applications by simply controlling both the laser beam pulse parameters and the scanhead toolpath. One more laser application is cleaning and drilling that were a real challenge for industrial laser systems because they had to deal with a significant variation of target materials.

Therefore, such qualities of modern fiber lasers as the brightness, stability, and flexibility extend the present material processing applications and create new ones. Fiber laser technology is perfect for manufacturing with identical laser beam properties from unit to unit, with no field adjustment or maintenance.

Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its own technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com

Fiber laser systems do not leave scars after surgery of breast tumors

Fiber Laser Systems do not leave surgery scars Fiber laser system allows women to have surgery for breast tumor removal without scars. The operation takes less than an hour and leaves only a tiny puncture mark. Thus, a new laser system treatment for breast cancer was recently approved for application in the UK, and it is planned to use fiber laser surgery in other countries.

To be more precise, the surgery by the fiber laser system requires just a local anesthetic. Frances Barr from Bristol became one of the first women in Britain to be subjected to a new laser system surgery for breast cancer. Compared to traditional surgery with a general anesthetic, laser technology is based on the use of local anesthetic.

The principle of fiber laser operation is based on a fine, hollow needle that is inserted through the breast tissue into the tumor, herewith, a fiber probe is brought through the needle and a hot laser beam attacks the tumor. It should be noted that after the injection of a local anesthetic into the front of the breast, the doctor applies a handheld ultrasound monitor to guide a needle towards the tumor.

When the tip of the needle achieves it, the fiber laser probe is inserted to defeat the cancerous tissue, herein, the patient is awake during the process. The woman said that she felt some inconveniences when the needle forced its way in, however, this was not painful. The dead tissue was also removed after the laser system surgery and no trace of cancer was left. The laser technology succeeded.

Compared to a lumpectomy procedure, fiber laser treatment does not present any major risks, however, the procedure can not be currently used for breast tumors bigger than 20 mm in diameter. Nonetheless, cancer surgery by fiber laser system is regarded to be particularly effective for older women with small breast tumors who may be less able to stand the traditional surgery. Also, the doctors have to be certain that the laser system treatment removes all cancer.

Every year about 25.000 women in the UK are exposed to a lumpectomy procedure for breast cancer, generally when the tumor has not spread. Conventional techniques are useful, however, leave scars that may become infected (1.5-10%). The new laser technology, in its turn, offers the same results, but without collateral damage because of the tiny size of the entry point.

The surgery by the fiber laser system takes only ten minutes to achieve the required laser beam temperature of 60 °C to 100 °C. Additionally, the laser system has heat fiber sensors that detect enough temperature eliminating the risk of damage to healthy tissue. Finally, only two tiny puncture marks are left, and it is not necessary to keep a patient at the hospital. Herewith, the main benefit of fiber laser treatment is the opportunity to repeat the process if scans reveal it didn’t destroy all of the tumors the first time around.

Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com

Laser Beams demonstrate a previously unseen matter phase

Laser Beams demonstrate an unseen phase of matterA team of researchers from the U.S. performs experiments with ultrafast laser beam pulses that allow creating a previously unseen phase of matter. For instance, adding energy to any material almost always changes its structure. However, new experiments by laser systems demonstrate the opposite: “when a pattern called a charge density wave in a certain material is hit with a fast laser beam pulse, a whole new charge density wave is created—a highly ordered state, instead of the expected disorder.”

The thing is that such laser technology may reveal hidden features in materials of all types. The researchers perform the experiment with ultrafast laser beam pulses by applying lanthanum tritelluride material that naturally changes into a layered structure. It should be noted that a wavelike pattern of electrons in high- and low-density areas creates spontaneously in the material, however, it is limited by a single direction within him.

Herewith, an ultrafast burst of laser beam light (less than a picosecond long) leads to the obliteration of the previous pattern and the creation of a new one. To be more precise, the novel pattern produced in the result of the laser system process is regarded as something that has never been observed before in this material. This pattern appears for only a flash, vanishing within a few more picoseconds.

It is not a discovery that matter can have two possible competitive states and that the dominant mode can suppress alternative modes. The laser technology, in its turn, reveals that different types of matter can have latent states lurking unseen if a technique is found to restrain the dominant state. It is possible to see by using ultrafast laser beam pulses at these competing states that are considered to have equivalent crystal structures due to the predictable, orderly patterns of their subatomic constituents.

The opportunity of laser systems that suppress other phases of matter may reveal completely new material features uncovering numerous new areas of application. This is the reason why it is highly necessary to discover material phases that can only be out of equilibrium. To be more precise, what is meant here are material states that would never be achieved without a technique, such as this system of laser beam pulses, for suppressing the dominant phase.

Traditionally, researchers transform chemical changes, or pressure, or magnetic fields to change the material phase, while now they apply laser beam light to perform these transformations. Finally, the results of laser technology may enable us to better understand the role of phase competition in other systems resulting in discovering higher-temperature superconductors and finding out why superconductivity appears in some materials at relatively high temperatures.

Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com

Laser Systems emit terahertz radiation for the U.S. army

Laser Systems emit terahertz radiation for the armyA team of researchers from Boston has developed a new terahertz radiation source with coveted frequency adjustment capability based on quantum cascade laser systems (QCL). Such a laser system has a compact size and it allows the development of futuristic communications, security, biomedical, and astronomical imaging systems.

It should be noted that terahertz electromagnetic frequencies emitted by fiber lasers have been widespread for their range of applications because these laser systems offer such advantages as high bandwidth, high resolution, long-range sensing, and the ability to visualize objects through materials. Nevertheless, the costliness, bulk, inefficiencies, and lack of tunability of traditional terahertz laser beam sources have limited growing markets.
Thus, this new combined terahertz laser beam emitter promotes future technologies from T-ray imaging in airports and space observatories to ultrahigh-capacity wireless connections. To be more precise, current fiber laser systems are considered to have limited tunability (less than 15 to 20% of the main frequency), that is why terahertz radiation is rarely used.

The researchers confirm that the new laser system helps open up this spectral region resulting in a revolutionary impact. The laser technology is based on a compact tunable semiconductor laser system, the quantum cascade laser (QCL) that is frequently used for chemical sensing and trace gas analysis. The thing is that the QCL laser system emits mid-infrared light, herewith, in this spectral region, most gases (low concentrations of molecules) can be determined by their specific absorption fingerprints.

According to researchers, “Terahertz waves could be emitted with high efficiency from gas molecules held within cavities much smaller than those currently used on the optically pumped far-infrared (OPFIR) laser system — one of the earliest sources of terahertz radiation”.

Nevertheless, the OPFIR laser systems are similar to all traditional terahertz laser beam sources, that is why they are regarded as inefficient with limited tunability. The change of the OPFIR laser on the quantum cascade laser system significantly increases the terahertz tuning range, therefore, the developed laser module has wider tunability now.

This laser system has been already tested and demonstrates the opportunity to tune the terahertz output to emit 29 direct laser beam transitions between 0.251 and 0.955 THz. The laser technology is universal, and it can be used to detect different gases. It is planned to use the developed laser system to observe skyward and determine unknown spectral features in the terahertz region.

Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com

Fiber Lasers as a tool for the treatment of kidney stones

Fiber Lasers as the treatment of kidney stone diseaseThe treatment of kidney stones is regarded as a painful process, however, specialists from the U.S. have developed a laser technology to make the therapy easier for patients in a way never done before. According to specialists, a two-month test makes the medical center the first in North America to apply pulsed fiber lasers to take away kidney stones.

The development of this laser technology takes a couple of years on project. That is why the specialists try to make Ohio State the first to employ it, as it already had some experience. To be more precise, specialists started developing the opportunity of applying this type of fiber laser system for urology in early 2015. By mid-2017, certain benefits of the new laser technology were over to the conventional state of the art.

The fiber laser leads to kidney stones’ breakage into tiny pieces. Herewith, such a laser system is considered to be more consistent compared with traditional laser technology. The operating principle is based on laser beam energy that breaks up the stones: “Once we get to the stone, the laser beam energy is delivered through an optical fiber that’s brought into contact with the stone. Once you’re touching the stone, activate the fiber laser system. And it delivers pulses of energy to the stone that breaks it up.”

The main benefit of such fiber laser treatment is a short time of breakage resulting in less required time under anesthetic and a faster recovery for patients. The thing is that the previous laser systems applied for kidney stone procedures are dated. They have been used for about 20 years and had numerous limitations. While modern pulsed fiber lasers are one of the biggest breakthroughs in urology. The developed fiber laser meets the scientist’s expectations. It allows breaking up really big stones that were difficult to treat with the older laser system.

Additionally, there is no often a need for stents because the new fiber laser system enables to efficiently break the stones into tiny parts and dust. It should be noted that a stent is a temporary tube between the kidney and the bladder that helps the kidney drain. Herewith, it provides discomfort to patients and requires an additional procedure of its removal.

Also, the pulsed fiber laser offers other advantages for medical staff, for instance, it is smaller and more portable than the previous model that required a special outlet in operating rooms. The main goal of fiber laser development is to help physicians get better clinical outcomes for patients. Thus, the laser system is planned to be used in areas of the hospital where traditionally haven’t been used before.

Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com

Annual laser system market review and forecast for 2021

Laser System market review and forecastAlthough at uneven rates, different fiber laser markets continue to enlarge fighting a slowdown in manufacturing and an uncertain political climate. It is a fact that the 2020 year was challenging for numerous segments of laser system markets. Fiber laser manufacturers faced challenging economic and political influences and also experienced the impact of trade barriers, lockdown, etc.

It should be noted that some fields of laser applications or types of laser systems were affected, while other fiber laser systems succeeded and look even better for the future. The thing is that every segment of the laser market differs from each other, consequently, it has its way. The experts claim that the overall annual estimated revenue growth has grown by 8.8% in 2020. The good news is that according to the forecasts for the laser system market in 2021 we can expect a revenue growth rate of 15.5%.

The main segments of laser markets are the following:

  • Materials Processing and Lithography when laser technology is applied for various types of metal processing. For instance, welding, cutting, annealing, drilling. Additionally, such fiber lasers are useful for semiconductor and microelectronics manufacturing, marking of all materials, and other materials processing.
  • Communications and optical storage that consist of laser system diodes employed in such spheres as telecommunications, data communications, and optical storage applications, including pumps for optical fiber amplifiers.
  • Scientific research and military – fiber laser systems for fundamental R&D. To be more precise, what is meant here is “universities and national laboratories, and new and existing military applications, such as rangefinders, illuminators, infrared countermeasures, and directed-energy weapons research.”
  • Medical and aesthetic areas where fiber lasers find their applications in ophthalmology, surgical, dental, therapeutic, skin, hair, and other cosmetic uses.
  • Instrumentation and fiber optic sensors where laser systems operate inside biomedical tools, analytical devices (for example, spectrometers), wafer and mask inspection instruments, metrology devices, levelers, optical mice, gesture recognition, fiber lasers for LIDAR barcode readers, and other fiber sensors.
  • Entertainment, displays, and printing. The segment uses laser systems for performing light shows, games, digital cinema, front and rear projectors, pico projectors, and laser pointers. Herewith, laser technology for commercial pre-press systems and photofinishing remain popular alongside standard laser printers for consumer and commercial applications.

Optromix is a fast-growing fiber laser manufacturer and a vendor of optical fiber sensors and optical monitoring systems. The company offers fast turnkey solutions and creates sophisticated fiber laser systems for special purposes. Optromix uses only its technologies and develops a broad variety of fiber lasers. If you have any questions or would like to buy a laser system, please contact us at info@optromix.com