US 12,447,225 B2
Ultrafast-UV laser integrating cavity mediated inactivation of a pathogen
Dmitri Voronin, Tampa, FL (US); Shyam Mohapatra, Tampa, FL (US); Subhra Mohapatra, Tampa, FL (US); Sharad Ambardar, Tampa, FL (US); Mark Howell, Tampa, FL (US); and Karthick Mayilsamy, Tampa, FL (US)
Assigned to University of South Florida, Tampa, FL (US)
Filed by University of South Florida, Tampa, FL (US)
Filed on Jun. 27, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/850,791.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/202,833, filed on Jun. 25, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0409765 A1, Dec. 29, 2022
Int. Cl. A61L 9/20 (2006.01); A61L 2/10 (2006.01)
CPC A61L 9/20 (2013.01) [A61L 2/10 (2013.01); A61L 2202/11 (2013.01); A61L 2209/12 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for inactivation of a pathogen, comprising:
using a device that comprises (a) a shell defined by a wall having an aperture therein, the shell enclosing a volume and (b) a source of laser light configured to generate and deliver a UVC light into said volume through the aperture, performing the following steps:
exposing the pathogen disposed in the volume to an optical field created by a beam of said UVC light entering the volume,
wherein the optical field is necessarily limited to said volume and that has a UVC wavelength,
wherein a spatial distribution of said optical field that is substantially uniform substantially at every point of the volume;
and
increasing an inactivation rate of the pathogen from a first inactivation rate to a second inactivation rate that is at least an order of magnitude higher than the first inactivation rate by confining said optical field to the volume, wherein the first inactivation rate is an inactivation rate achieved when directly illuminating the pathogen with said beam of the UVC light, wherein the second inactivation rate is an inactivation rate achieved when not shining said beam of the UVC light onto a pathogen directly.