Table of contents

An approximate algorithm is tested for solving the problem of diffusion optical tomography in experiments on the visualisation of details of the inner structure of strongly scattering model objects containing scattering and semitransparent inclusions, as well as absorbing inclusions located inside other optical inhomogeneities. The stability of the algorithm to errors is demonstrated, which allows its use for a rapid (2 — 3 min) image reconstruction of the details of objects with a complicated inner structure.

The distribution of light scattered by finger joints is studied in the near-IR region. It is shown that variations in the optical parameters of the tissue (scattering coefficient μ_s, absorption coefficient μ_a, and anisotropy factor g) depend on the presence of the rheumatoid arthritis (RA). At the first stage, the distribution of scattered light was measured in diaphanoscopic experiments. The convolution of a Gaussian error function with the scattering phase function proved to be a good approximation of the data obtained. Then, a new method was developed for the reconstruction of distribution of optical parameters in the finger cross section. Model tests of the quality of this reconstruction method show good results.

Real-time monitoring of cooling and freezing of tissues, cells, and other biological objects with a high spatial and time resolution, which is necessary for selective destruction of cancer and benign tumours during cryotherapy, as well as for preventing any damage to the structure and functioning of biological objects in cryobiology, is considered. The optoacoustic method, based on the measurement and analysis of acoustic waves induced by short laser pulses, is proposed for monitoring the cooling and freezing of the tissue. The effect of cooling and freezing on the amplitude and time profile of acoustic signals generated in real tissues and in a model object is studied. The experimental results indicate that the optoacoustic laser technique can be used for real-time monitoring of cooling and freezing of biological objects with a submillimeter spatial resolution and a high contrast.

A laser-spectroscopy system for the fluorescent diagnostics and photodynamic therapy of pathologic eye-fundus changes combined with the use of the Photosens compound is developed. The system is tested on experimental animals (mice and rabbits).

The results of comparative studies of autofluorescence and 5-ALA-induced fluorescence of protoporphyrin IX, used in the diagnostics of early cancer of larynx and bronchi, are presented. The autofluorescence and 5-ALA-induced fluorescence images of larynx and bronchial tissues are analysed during the endoscopic study. The method of local spectrophotometry is used to verify findings obtained from fluorescence images. It is shown that such a combined approach can be efficiently used to improve the diagnostics of precancer and early cancer, to detect a primary multiple tumours, as well as for the diagnostics of a residual tumour or an early recurrence after the endoscopic, surgery or X-ray treatment. The developed approach allows one to minimise the number of false-positive results and to reduce the number of biopsies, which are commonly used in the white-light bronchoscopy search for occult cancerous loci.

The direction-sensitive method of microflow velocity measurements based on the space — time correlation properties of the dynamic speckle field is described and used for in vivo monitoring of lymph flow in the vessels of rat mesentery. The results of measurements are compared with the data obtained from functional video microscopy of the microvessel region.

The self-mixing effect in a diode laser and the Doppler technique are used for quantitative measurements of the cardiovascular pulses from radial arteries of human individuals. 738 cardiovascular pulses from 10 healthy volunteers were studied. The Doppler spectrograms reconstructed from the Doppler signal, which is measured from the radial displacement of the radial artery, are compared to the first derivative of the blood pressure signals measured from the middle finger by the Penaz technique. The mean correlation coefficient between the Doppler spectrograms and the first derivative of the blood pressure signals was 0.84, with a standard deviation of 0.05. Pulses with the correlation coefficient less than 0.7 were neglected in the study. Percentage of successfully detected pulses was 95.7%. It is shown that cardiovascular pulse shape from the radial artery can be measured noninvasively by using the self-mixing interferometry.

Tunable diode lasers (TDLs) are applied to the diagnostics of gastroenterological diseases using respiratory tests and preparations enriched with the stable ¹³C isotope. This method of the analysis of the ¹³C/¹²C isotope ratio in CO₂ in exhaled air is based on the selective measurement of the resonance absorption at the vibrational — rotational structure of ¹²CO₂ and ¹³CO₂. The CO₂ transmission spectra in the region of 4.35 μm were measured with a PbEuSe double-heterostructure TDL. The accuracy of carbon isotope ratio measurements in CO₂ of exhaled air performed with the TDL was ~0.5%. The data of clinical tests of the developed laser-based analyser are presented.

The application of tunable diode lasers for a highly sensitive analysis of gaseous biomarkers in exhaled air in biomedical diagnostics is discussed. The principle of operation and the design of a laser analyser for studying the composition of exhaled air are described. The results of detection of gaseous biomarkers in exhaled air, including clinical studies, which demonstrate the diagnostic possibilities of the method, are presented.

A combined application of optical methods [optical coherent tomography (OCT), cross-polarisation optical coherent tomography, and fluorescence spectroscopy] is proposed for obtaining information on morphological and biochemical changes occurring in tissues in norm and pathology. It is shown that neoplastic and scar changes in esophagus can be distinguished using a combination of polarisation and standard OCT due to the difference between the depolarising properties of the tissues caused by the structural properties of collagenic fibres in stroma. It is shown that OCT combined with fluorescence spectroscopy with the use of 5-aminolevulinic acid is promising for determining the boundaries of carcinoma of the uterine cervix and vulva. It is found that the tumour boundary detected by optical methods coincides with the morphological boundary and extends beyond colposcopically determined boundary by about 2 mm.

Near-field biochips based on nanohole arrays produced in silicon wafers are described and the first studies of cells and DNA with the help of a laser scanning microscope are presented.

The characteristics and possible applications of scalpels based on diode and fibre lasers emitting at 0.97, 1.06, 1.56, and 1.9 μm, which are produced and developed by the IRE-Polyus Co., are presented. The advantages of such devices and the possibilities for increasing their output power and extending their spectral range are shown.

A new class of monochromatic spatially incoherent radiation sources is proposed in which the cavityless lasing of field-emission electron-pumped nanocrystals is used.

The structure and dynamics of solitary waves created in the interaction of multiwavelength pulses in a single-mode optical fibre with amplification, filtering, and amplitude modulation is analysed. It is shown that there is a critical wavelength separation between channels above which wavelength-division multiplexing with solitons is feasible and that this separation increases with the number of channels.

A self-Q-switched ytterbium-doped double-clad fibre laser is described. A samarium-doped fibre is used as a filter for protecting a pump source. A fibre coupler is employed to obtain a nonlinear feedback. The mechanism of pulse formation in the laser is considered, and the dependence of its output pulse on the coupler parameters is studied.

The new possibilities of almost ideal amplification of optical solitons during the incoherent interaction of light pulses with a resonantly amplifying medium are considered. The mechanism of two-photon amplification of optical solitons with an optimal frequency-modulation law is proposed. It is shown that the entirely ideal amplification of solitons cannot be achieved because the law of phase modulation of radiation differs from a parabolic law. The possibility of using the phase cross modulation to produce the required initial phase of amplified solitons is studied.

The conditions for the onset and evolution dynamics of flooded jets, which were discovered for the first time upon irradiation of the free surface of melted paraffin by laser pulses, are studied experimentally. Their maximum speed and penetration depth are measured. It is shown that the initiation of flooded jets has a threshold nature and strongly affects the heat-and-mass transfer. A pattern of flows is presented, which displays the evolution dynamics of flooded jets and thermocapillary vortexes in a bounded volume under repetitively pulsed irradiation of the melt surface.

A review of papers reported at II Asian — Pacific Conference on Fundamental Problems of Opto- and Microelectronics is presented.