OAM light research could transform non-invasive medical diagnostics

The research shows how Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM) can be harnessed to improve imaging and data transmission through skin and other biological tissues.

A team led by Aston’s Professor Igor Meglinski found that OAM light has unmatched sensitivity and accuracy that could result in making procedures such as surgery or biopsies unnecessary. It could also enable doctors to track the progression of diseases and plan appropriate treatments.

According to Aston University, OAM is a type of structured light beams, which are light fields that have a tailored spatial structure. They have previously been applied to several developments in different applications including astronomy, microscopy, imaging, metrology, sensing, and optical communications.

The research, which is detailed in Light Science & Application, was carried out in collaboration with a tea from the University of Oulu, Finland.

The study found that unlike regular light signals OAM retains its phase characteristics, even when passing through highly scattering media. This means it can detect extremely small changes with an accuracy of up to 0.000001 on the refractive index, reportedly far surpassing the capabilities of many current diagnostic technologies.