Looking for new laser light applications
2006/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
At the University of the Basque Country they want to analyze laser light and discover its new applications. In the Department of Applied Physics of the School of Engineering. In the laboratory they investigate the active substance they use to create the laser itself and the materials that can be receptors of it.
For example, crystals have been created with special components that aim to be used in medicine in different fields of application. It is about inserting crystals into cells, using the laser for use as markers, to differentiate different types of cells or to separate internal components from cells. In fact, according to their properties, crystals would be associated with one or another component of the cell --membrane, nucleus, mitochondria, etc.-. The operation is simple to understand: crystals would receive light from the laser and teach where they are; or more, by inducing lasers, crystals can initiate or interrupt certain processes in cells and, for example, kill cancer cells. To do this, they must create sufficiently small crystals and accurately study their optical properties. At the moment we are working with larger crystals.
