From Event: SPIE Nanoscience + Engineering, 2019
Biological samples often have various absorption bands that need to be either targeted or avoided in opto-fluidic micromanipulation or biomedical imaging. With nonlinear optics, it is possible for light to self-induce a waveguide. However, the desired wavelengths may not be suitable to exhibit nonlinear self-guiding due to the absorption bands or the light-bioparticle interaction is not strong enough. Here we study formation of waveguides in red blood cell suspensions for a range of different wavelengths. We utilize nonlinear optical response for self-trapping of a laser beam, forming light guides in RBCs suspended in a phosphate buffer solution. To improve the number of usable light wavelengths over purely self-guided propagation, we use the master-slave relation, in a manner similar to the pump-probe experiment: a master beam creates a waveguide first in a scattering bio-soft-matter suspension over a few centimeters, and then a “slave” beam uses this waveguide to propagate through the medium. The slave beam, injected simultaneously, has no appreciable nonlinear self-action itself but experiences the master waveguide akin to an optical fiber. This new approach can provide a path to guide a wide range of wavelengths, including those in the absorption bands at lower power so as not to damage the sample. The fact that we can guide a wide range of wavelengths may bring about new applications in medicine and biology, for instance, in developing alternative solutions to transmit energy and information through scattering media, as needed in deep-tissue imaging, treatment and diagnostics.
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Nicolas R. Perez, Jake Chambers, Rekha Gautam, Yinxiao Xiang, Josh Lamstein, Yi Liang, Zhigang Chen, and Anna Bezryadina, "Red blood cells form waveguides of light at tunable wavelengths (Conference Presentation)," Proc. SPIE 11083, Optical Trapping and Optical Micromanipulation XVI, 110832F (Presented at SPIE Nanoscience + Engineering: August 15, 2019; Published: 9 September 2019); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2528553.6083788874001.