Scientists from the Bialystok University of Technology (PB), the University of Silesia in Katowice and the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow have jointly patented a glass from which optical fibres used in fibre lasers for cutting human tissue can be made.

The subject of this invention, which is unique on a global scale, are ‘oxide-fluoride titanium germanium glasses with luminescent properties in the mid-infrared range and a method for obtaining them’.

These are special glasses that are doped with lanthanide ions with spectroscopic properties, which find application in the construction of fibre-optic radiation sources, i.e. fibre lasers,” explains Dr Marcin Kochanowicz, Professor of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and adds that the parameters of these glasses are different from standard glasses we know and allow efficient emission in the mid-infrared range, i.e. 2.70 micrometres – 3 micrometres. ‘This range is particularly important when it comes to medicine, optical sensors, because the whole photonic trend is shifting towards the infrared, because that is where the applications society needs are,’ says Prof Kochanowicz.