Laser cooling of solids: towards biomedical applications

Quentin Mermillod (1) , Johan Cazals (1) , Mathieu Dupoy (1) , Alain Glière (1) , Nicolas Aubert (1) , Stephan Chabardes (2, 1)

1 CEA-LETI - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives - Laboratoire d'Electronique et de Technologie de l'Information
2 CHU - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire [Grenoble]

Focal cooling is a promising alternative therapy for intractable focal epilepsies, avoiding the irreversible neuronal damages induced by resection surgery. However, due to thermal conduction losses, local cooling of a deep brain region remains a challenging objective for thermoelectric or fluidic technologies. Here, we investigated the viability of an optical micro-cooler based on anti-Stokes refrigeration of ytterbium doped YLF crystals, taking into account the medical constraints for implantable device. We realized significant cooling under atmospheric pressure and developed a solution drastically reducing the harmful fluorescence heating of brain-like liquids below 2 K, thus demonstrating the relevance of this technology for biomedical applications.

Keywords: Active implantable medical devices; Laser cooling of solids; Optical refrigeration; Anti-Stokes fluorescence; Intractable focal epilepsies

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]

Quentin Mermillod, Johan Cazals, Mathieu Dupoy, Alain Glière, Nicolas Aubert, et al.. Laser cooling of solids: towards biomedical applications. Photonic Heat Engines: Science and Applications, Feb 2019, San Francisco, United States. pp.21, ⟨10.1117/12.2507828⟩. ⟨cea-02098375⟩