Abstract

Highly focused pulsed laser beams have been employed to dissect or inactivate various cellular and subcellular targets. Over the years, such cellular microirradiation has been successfully employed in numerous basic science studies in cell and developmental biology as well as genetics. Despite the significant capabilities of cellular microirradiation techniques, the physical processes which mediate the interaction of highly focused pulsed laser radiation with cells and cellular components remains largely unexplored. The characterization of these physical mechanisms is essential to optimize the laser parameters for existing applications as well as for the development of the next generation of cellular microirradiation tools. Ideally such an investigation would provide the relationship between the laser parameters (e.g., wavelength, spot size, pulse energy and duration) and the physical effect on the biological specimen (e.g., ablation, thermal transients, photochemical effects, etc.)

© 1998 Optical Society of America