Researchers have found a way to pre-treat a laser beam so that it enters opaque surfaces without dispersing – like a headlight that’s able to cut through heavy fog at full strength. The discovery from scientists at Yale University and the Missouri University of Science & Technology has potential applications for deep-tissue imaging and optogenetics, in which light is used to probe and manipulate cells in living tissue.
By shaping its spatial wavefront, a laser beam can propagate through a strongly scattering medium without lateral diffusion. In addition, the backscattering of light is suppressed. (Source: Yale U.)
“Typically, an optical beam propagating through a diffusive medium such as fog will spread laterally, but we have discovered that a special preparation of the laser beam can transmit all incoming light without lateral spread,” said principal investigator Hui Cao. The researchers used a spatial light modulator (SLM) and a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera to analyze an opaque material that is made of a layer of white paint. The SLM tailored the laser beam incident on the front surface of the material, and the CCD camera records intensity profiles behind it. With this information, the laser finds a route through the white paint.
The result is a beam that is more concentrated, with more light per volume inside and behind the opaque material. In addition to a layer of white paint, the materials in which the laser would be effective include biological tissue, fog, paper, and milk. “Our method works for any opaque medium that does not absorb light,” Cao said. “Enhancing optical energy in opaque scattering media is extremely important in optogenetics and deep-tissue imaging,” his colleague Hasan Yilmaz said. „Currently, penetration depth to probe and stimulate or image neurons inside the brain tissue is limited due to multiple-scattering.“ (Source: Yale U.)
Link: Hui Cao Research Lab., Dept. of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, USA
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