Light from sound

Light from sound could spot cancer and terrorists.

Semiconductor devices could one day convert sound into light at terahertz frequencies, a radiation range that can detect skin cancers before they are visible on the surface. Such light could also provide a privacy-protecting alternative to naked body scanners in airports

I saw this article and thought It was interesting enough to share.

So what do you think?

The spotting cancer aspect is good, but spotting terrorists, would be perfect.
It's good!

Interesting none-the-less.

Share your thoughts!

AtG
Source


[edit on 5/31/2010 by Alexander the Great]

Well, great for the cancer.

I don't think we use the tools we have already to stop terrorists...when we really "didn't suspect that!" (to paraphrase W Bush regarding planes flying into buildings)

Glad that it could be used in place of naked body scanners. I heard that they passed the law to have those placed into airports here in the US. We haven't had issues that I know of since 9/11, but they want to install these new full-body scanners anyway. Imagine being a frequent flyer and being zapped every time you make it through security. I don't know how the effects compare to X-rays at the hospital, but regardless, it sounds unnecessary. I'd rather be patted down. I guess it's a great alternative to an "invasive" search of your insides, since you know some people hide things in certain orifices..including swallowing condoms.

how is the skin cancer to make a sound thats then converted into light ?

Originally posted by icepack
how is the skin cancer to make a sound thats then converted into light ?

They never tell so its just a promotion.

Originally posted by icepack
how is the skin cancer to make a sound thats then converted into light ?

It doesn't - the article is about constructing an efficient THz range emitter. It's not simple.

In the case of the article, they're managing to emit T-waves by converting sound energy in a semiconductive structure. By "sound energy", though, they're talking something more like phonons. It's a mechanical stress wave at 60GHz, not a sound you could hear. In fact, I'm not sure why they're calling it "sound", other than it being New Scientist, which is generally about as accurate as Popular Science.

Like the ultra sound and maybe a little like a MRI, you can find the residence frequency of normal cells, and the frequency of cancer cells. Using a little discrimination the cancer cells easily couple be located and isolated. The Cool factor here is the conversion method between light and sound, not so much the detection, a ultrasound can see tumors.

We used Ultrasound(legal in Europe) to "Burn" out cancer cells in the prostate, some of these higher frequency sounds have great effects that are just being made operational. Wait till we know more about magnets because MRI uses a by-product of the magnetic field to make the image.

Originally posted by NecromancerYHVH
Like the ultra sound and maybe a little like a MRI, you can find the residence frequency of normal cells, and the frequency of cancer cells.

I assume you meant "resonance" and not "residence", however, cells don't have characteristic "resonance" frequencies either, certainly not in terms of normal cells having one "resonance" frequency and tumor cells having another, and that frequency being sharply defined between the two. In the first place, you'd have to say "resonance in what way", as there could be quite a number of types of resonances alone.

Using a little discrimination the cancer cells easily couple be located and isolated. The Cool factor here is the conversion method between light and sound, not so much the detection, a ultrasound can see tumors.

The "sound" itself isn't what the article is discussing in terms of detecting tumors. It's pointing out that THz waves are good at spotting small density differences in shallow structures without using ionizing radiation. Ultrasound can do something like that, but not to the extent you can with THz waves.

We used Ultrasound(legal in Europe) to "Burn" out cancer cells in the prostate, some of these higher frequency sounds have great effects that are just being made operational. Wait till we know more about magnets because MRI uses a by-product of the magnetic field to make the image.

Again, the "sound" (if you can call it that - it's a 60GHz longitudinal wave) hasn't got squat to do with medical imaging directly, other than it's being converted into THz waves by means of something a bit like a SAW effect.

The ultrasound you're talking about is something totally different, in that case you're shaking any cell structure in the focus to pieces. In this one, they're using Bloch oscillations to produce THz waves.