LASER UPGRADES BENEFIT PHYSICISTS AND PHYSICIANS
In the first years of its existence, the FEL Center concentrated on basic
research. With major breakthroughs in recent years, particularly the discovery
of the ideal laser wavelength for tissue ablation, the center has begun
to move toward applying that research.
"This is a very complicated and demanding machine," says Charles
Brau, a physics professor who came to Vanderbilt in 1988 to direct the daily
operations of the FEL. "The improvements to the laser have all been
focused on reliability." Brau no longer directs laser operations, but
he is busy building a smaller free-electron laser in his lab at the center.
"We are the FEL Center pursuing human surgery," says Marcus Mendenhall,
technical liaison to FEL research groups and senior research associate professor
of physics. He believes medical use of the laser in human surgery is possible
within two years.
But first the laser must undergo an upgrade to reach the reliability necessary
for medical use. The process began last fall.
Scientists are replacing and repairing worn parts of the laser, which,
at 75 feet long and 6 feet high at its center, is considerably larger than
most lasers. The development staff is less than half way through extensive
retooling of the laser in a 13,000-square-foot basement vault surrounded
by 6-and-a-half feet of concrete and Tennessee limestone.
Retooling includes new hardware - the Macintosh computers that control
the laser - and staff-written software programs developed to upgrade the
delivery system.
Reliability was not as crucial a consideration when the laser was being
used principally for research and when downtime resulted chiefly in inconvenience
to the scientists. But for future medical applications, reliable delivery
of the laser beam is a major consideration.
While the center is undergoing its upgrade, it is continuing to be used
for research. Bill Gabella, associate director of operations, says he is
surprised by the relatively large number of beam hours logged by researchers
this year.
Although there has been some curtailment of beam hours for research, Gabella
says it is worth it if it means the laser will be able to run predictably
for physicians.
"Both physicians and physicists will benefit from this effort. The
collaboration of physicists and physicians at the center makes for an interesting
and productive mix of two cultures," says Gabella.
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This document created November 19, 1996