Ultrashort Autocorrelatory Using a Femtosecond Laser for Quantification of Glucose and Salt Levels in Turbid Media
S. Ashraf, H. Ullah, F. Abdleeb, M. Ikram, A. Nazir and Z. Batool
Diabetes is a common and debilitating disease whose incidence is currently on the increase. Diabetic patients experience dramatic swings in blood glucose concentrations, which can lead to both acute emergencies and long term complications. Much effort has gone into developing methods for monitoring and quantification of glucose levels, such that diet, exercise, and insulin therapies can be administered optimally. We have developed an efficient controlled method for glucose monitoring in turbid media based on femtosecond laser pulses autocorrelation – femtosecond laser autocorrelatory (FLA). A Kerr lens mode-locked Ti:Sapphire femtosecond laser at central wavelength of 800 nm was used as femtosecond pulsed light source. Glucose (C6H12O6) and table salt (NaCl) were used as analytes to investigate the temporal shift in the laser pulse. A temporal shift in pulse was measured and the sample containing glucose is revealed to be broadening the pulse more than a salt solution. Further, the pulsed signal can be analysed to measure and identify the boundaries between normal and diseased blood in diabetics in vitro and in vivo. Integration of our technique with photodynamic therapy (PDT) can generate a new route to investigate cell death by analysing the dynamic light scattering as well as to quantify the higher glucose levels injected intravenously to animal by determining the translation diffusion coefficient.
Keywords: Ti:Sapphire femtosecond laser, glucose (C6H12O6), salt (NaCl), ultrashort pulse, monitoring, interferometry, autocorrelator, Brownian motion, diabetes