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Generation, characterization, and medical utilization of laser-produced emission continua

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2001

S. SVANBERG
Affiliation:
Lund Laser Centre, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
S. ANDERSSON-ENGELS
Affiliation:
Lund Laser Centre, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
R. CUBEDDU
Affiliation:
Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy
E. FÖRSTER
Affiliation:
Friedrich Schiller Universität, Max-Wien-Platz 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany
M. GRÄTZ
Affiliation:
Lund Laser Centre, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
K. HERRLIN
Affiliation:
Lund Laser Centre, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
G. HÖLZER
Affiliation:
Friedrich Schiller Universität, Max-Wien-Platz 1, D-07743 Jena, Germany
L. KIERNAN
Affiliation:
Lund Laser Centre, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
C. af KLINTEBERG
Affiliation:
Lund Laser Centre, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
A. PERSSON
Affiliation:
Lund Laser Centre, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
A. PIFFERI
Affiliation:
Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, I-20133 Milano, Italy
A. SJÖGREN
Affiliation:
Lund Laser Centre, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden
C.-G. WAHLSTRÖM
Affiliation:
Lund Laser Centre, P.O. Box 118, S-221 00 Lund, Sweden

Abstract

Intense continua of electromagnetic radiation of very brief duration are formed in the interaction of focused ultra-short terawatt laser pulses with matter. Two different kinds of experiments, which have been performed utilizing the Lund 10 Hz titanium-doped sapphire terawatt laser system are being described, where visible radiation and X-rays, respectively, have been generated. Focusing into water leads to the generation of a light continuum through self-phase modulation. The propagation of the light through tissue was studied addressing questions related to optical mammography and specific chromophore absorption. When terawatt laser pulses are focused onto a solid target with high nuclear charge Z, intense X-ray radiation of few ps duration and with energies exceeding hundreds of keV is emitted. Biomedical applications of this radiation are described, including differential absorption and gated-viewing imaging.

Type
ULIA-1 CONFERENCE PAPERS
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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