Microsurgery of Cell Membrane with Femtosecond Laser Pulses for Cell Fusion and Optical Injection

We report on results of using femtosecond laserscalpel for microsurgery of plasma membrane ofliving cells. Femtosecond laser pulses were appliedto initiate cell fusion as well as to performreversible permeabilization of cell membranerequired for efficient injection of extrinsicsubstances into the target cells. Laser-based cellfusion of mammalian embryo blastomeres as wellas fusion of cell bodies of neurons of molluskLymnaea stagnalis were successfully carried out byapplying single femtosecond laser pulses (secondharmonic of a Cr:Forsterite laser system) 620 nm,100 fs with the fluences of 0.42-0.71 J/cm2. It wasshown that the fusion of cells was completed within5-60 minutes depending on the cell type. Successfulpermeabilization of a cell membrane andoptoinjection of a membrane impermeable dye wasperformed with the help of a compact laser systemfor cell microsurgery DissCell-F (ytterbium laser,1050 nm, 75 MHz, ~115 fs). In both cases the laserirradiation parameters were thoroughly optimized toachieve high viability of treated cells and highefficiency of the procedures of cell fusion andoptical injection

Two-temperature relaxation and melting after absorption of femtosecond laser pulse

The theory and experiments concerned with the electron-ion thermal relaxation and melting of overheated crystal lattice constitute the subject of this paper. The physical model includes two-temperature equation of state, many-body interatomic potential, the electron-ion energy exchange, electron thermal conductivity, and optical properties of solid, liquid, and two phase solid-liquid mixture. Two-temperature hydrodynamics and molecular dynamics codes are used. An experimental setup with pump-probe technique is used to follow evolution of an irradiated target with a short time step 100 fs between the probe femtosecond laser pulses. Accuracy of measurements of reflection coefficient and phase of reflected probe light are ~1% and \sim 1\un{nm}, respectively. It is found that, {\it firstly}, the electron-electron collisions make a minor contribution to a light absorbtion in solid Al at moderate intensities; {\it secondly}, the phase shift of a reflected probe results from heating of ion subsystem and kinetics of melting of Al crystal during 0 where $t$ is time delay between the pump and probe pulses measured from the maximum of the pump; {\it thirdly} the optical response of Au to a pump shows a marked contrast to that of Al on account of excitation of \textit{d}-electronsComment: 6th International Conference on Photo-Excited Processes and Applications 9-12 Sep 2008, Sapporo, Japan, http://www.icpepa6.com, the contributed paper will be published in Applied Surface Science(2009

Spallative ablation of dielectrics by X-ray laser

Short laser pulse in wide range of wavelengths, from infrared to X-ray, disturbs electron-ion equilibrium and rises pressure in a heated layer. The case where pulse duration $\tau_L$ is shorter than acoustic relaxation time $t_s$ is considered in the paper. It is shown that this short pulse may cause thermomechanical phenomena such as spallative ablation regardless to wavelength. While the physics of electron-ion relaxation on wavelength and various electron spectra of substances: there are spectra with an energy gap in semiconductors and dielectrics opposed to gapless continuous spectra in metals. The paper describes entire sequence of thermomechanical processes from expansion, nucleation, foaming, and nanostructuring to spallation with particular attention to spallation by X-ray pulse