Surface-emitting superconductor laser spectroscopy for characterizing normal and sickled red blood cells
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (United States)
We have developed a new intracavity laser technique that uses a living or a fixed cell as an integral component of the laser. The cells are placed on an AlGaAs/GaAs surface-emitting semiconductor wafer and covered with a glass dielectric mirror to form a laser resonator. In this arrangement, the cells serve as optical waveguides (or lens elements) to confine (or focus) light generated in the resonator by the semiconductor. Because of the high transparency, the cells aid the lasing process to generate laser light. This ultra sensitive laser provides a novel imaging/spectroscopic technique for histologic examination which we demonstrate with normal and sickled human red blood cells. Extremely high contrast microscopic images of the cells are observed near 830-850 nm. These images correspond to electromagnetic modes of cell structures and are sensitive to shape of the cell. Using a high resolution spectrometer, we resolve the light emitted from these images into very narrow spectral peaks associated with the lasing modes. Analysis of the spectra reveals that the distribution of peaks is quite different for normal and sickled red blood cells. This technique, in a more developed form, may be useful for the rapid analysis of other kinds of normal and abnormal cells.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 10117795
- Report Number(s):
- SAND--95-0170C; CONF-950226--6; ON: DE95006809
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Surface-emitting semiconductor laser for intracavity spectroscopy and microscopy
Effects of carbon dioxide and pH variations in vitro on blood respiratory functions, red blood cell volume, transmembrane pH gradients, and sickling in sickle cell anemia