Mötesplats Rydberg: Stefan Kröll "Reducing light speed by five orders of magnitudes improves optical imaging deep inside the body"

Tuesday 28 May 2019, 15:15 → 16:15 Europe/Stockholm

Rydbergsalen (Fysiska institutionen-Physics Department)

Ischemia, i.e. the restriction of oxygenated blood in an area of tissue, is a cause of cardiovascular disease which is the most prevalent cause of death in Sweden for both men and women (Socialstyrelsen). The second most prevalent cause of death in Sweden is tumors which are often distinguished by having centers of dead, deoxygenated tissue.

At Skåne University Hospital there are ~100 emergency patients per day (close to half of the total number) with symptoms related to ischemia possibly indicating stroke, heart failure or similar conditions. Clearly there is a need for practical techniques for measuring blood oxygenation in the body.

In our project we combine light and ultrasound to measure blood oxygenation. This is done by slowing down the speed of light for the combined light and ultrasound signal by five orders of magnitude. In this way we can discriminate the relevant signal against scattered background light. In the talk I will describe the method and explain how we can slow down the speed of light to a few km/s.