Clinical laboratory IT solutions could gain from photon energy manipulation

Transmitting information from clinical laboratory IT solutions over long distances could become easier to achieve following research into Bragg scattering carried out at the University of Oregon.

Bragg scattering targets photons of light with a laser beam, causing energy transfer to take place and changing the wavelength and frequency of the light.

The effect can be used to take a photon from the visible light range, with a wavelength measured in nanometres, into the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum where it may be measured in microns.

Lead researcher Michael G Raymer, a physicist at the university, explains that this is important as much of the existing infrastructure in the ground is designed to carry infrared transmissions.

But not all clinical laboratory IT solutions use infrared, with many operating instead in the visible light range.

Using Bragg scattering, information held in visible light can be converted to infrared for long-distance transmission, before being changed back to the compatible frequency range on reception.