Developing Optimum Laser for Ultrafast Biomedical Imaging Applications
Project Description:
Biomedical imaging technologies allow us to increase our knowledge about biological systems. They have the potential to cure rare diseases and improve our quality of life. Time-stretch imaging is a relatively novel technology, which captures biomedical images at ultrahigh speed (up to one billion frames per second). Using this method, one of its applications allows the detection of cancer cells in human blood at least 100 times faster than conventional methods. The bottleneck of time stretch imaging is its corresponding spatial range inside tissue, limited to sub mm due to the high repetition rate of current lasers. Unfortunately, there is no current available solution for low repletion rate lasers. In this project, we will develop a promising solution to make an optimum laser for time stretch imaging, allowing the capture of biomedical images at ultrahigh speed and with higher depth range than conventional methods. We will utilize figure-8 configuration for our laser as well as using Talbot effect to develop such low rep rate laser.
Advisor: Hossein Asghari, masghari@lmu.edu
Project Duration: 1 Year
Student Duties:
The student assistant is expected to develop the hardware required to build such lasers. The student will meet regularly with the faculty advisor, and assist in the preparation of journal or conference papers. He/she should also present the completed project at the Seaver Graduate Symposium.
Student Background Required:
Electrical engineering