This article is cited in 20 papers

Nanoparticles

Silicon nanoparticles as contrast agents in the methods of optical biomedical diagnostics

S. V. Zabotnov^abc, F. V. Kashaev^b, D. V. Shuleiko^b, M. B. Gongalsky^b, L. A. Golovan^b, P. K. Kashkarov^abc, D. A. Loginova^d, P. D. Agrba^d, E. A. Sergeeva^e, M. Yu. Kirillin<sup>e

a</sup> Russian Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute", Moscow
^b Faculty of Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University
^c Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (State University), Dolgoprudny, Moscow region
^d Lobachevski State University of Nizhni Novgorod
^e Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nizhnii Novgorod

Abstract: The efficiency of light scattering by nanoparticles formed using the method of picosecond laser ablation of silicon in water and by nanoparticles of mechanically grinded mesoporous silicon is compared. The ensembles of particles of both types possess the scattering coefficients sufficient to use them as contrast agents in optical coherence tomography (OCT), particularly in the range of wavelengths 700–1000 nm, where the absorption of both silicon and most biological and mimicking tissues is small. According to the Mie theory the main contribution to the scattering in this case is made by the particles having a relatively large size (150–300 nm). In the experiments on visualising the agar phantom surface by means of OCT, the contrast of the medium boundary, provided by nanoparticles amounted to 14 dB and 30 dB for the ablated particles and the porous silicon powder, respectively. The numerical simulation of OCT images of skin in the presence of nanoparticles, confirmed the efficiency of using them as a contrast agent.

Keywords: silicon nanoparticles, pulsed laser ablation, mesoscopic media, spectrophotometry, optical coherence tomography, Monte Carlo method.

Received: 24.03.2017
Revised: 06.05.2017

 English version: Quantum Electronics, 2017, 47:7, 638–646

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