Light and Life Science

Abstract

1) Light and Environment:

The beautiful rainbow itself is physical phenomena, i.e., distribution of small water drips, where the man sees all kinds of color through the visual functions. Green woods, lakes and houses are well percepted by vision with help of light. During several hundred million years, human being is created gradually on the earth harmonizing with the environment. All kinds of living body as well as the earth itself consists under favour of the electro-magnetic radiation energy from the sun. In large extent of the electro-magnetic waves, the light is most important for the living body.

2) Progress in Optics:

Last several centuries, geometrical optics constructed by many scientists, and today we know the light as the solution of Maxwell’s equation, i.e. electro-magnetic waves of round 10¹⁵Hz, and also the quantum particles. In 1960, the coherent laser light had been invented which developed many useful technologies, not only for industrial but also for medicine and biology.

3) Laser Medicine:

Coherent light is able to focus into a tiny point with high Energy. The first medical use was the eye fundus coagulation, then the operation of the brain diseases because of the effect of quick stopping blood. On the other hands, the coherent laser light is useful for the precision measurements. Many sophisticated technology applications of interference, diffraction and so on, has been made a great progress in technologies, which are also applicable to the research of human beings. For example, optical computer tomography, near fields microscopy, 3-dimentional holographic observation of the eye, etc. Some of them will be briefly reviewed in this lecture.

4) Light (Optical) Physiology:

For the study of brain system, and further the minds and the spirits, from being to becoming, new optical approaches are expected in this century. As well known, the brain neurons are complicated like purkinje cells, which have many branches. In order to study the signal transmission in such spatially and temporally extended network, a new type of optical physiological method complementary to the electro-physiology should be developed.

5) Laser and Living Body:

The BDORT uses laser to get some signals from the skin. The mechanism how the coherent light does conduct in a living body is unfortunately unknown. The molecular or some cells near skin may perhaps be affected by the coherent light, their phase and wavelength, but more researches will be needed.