USP: Lasers that cut without heating surrounding material

[Luz Ramirez Pascual]

There's not much connection between Internet and building medical devices. But that's exactly the transition made by Barry Schuler, former CEO of AOL. His two-year-old startup, Raydiance, is taking aim at the $3 billion medical laser market with a technology called USP, or ultrashort pulse.

USP lasers are phenomenally accurate and of very high intensity, and when focused, they strip the electrons from atoms in a process that vaporizes the material with extraordinary precision. When properly tuned, Raydiance lasers can blast away at anything from a giant hunk of steel to a single cancer cell.

And because the pulse of energy is so brief, lasting only a trillionth of a second, no heat is transferred.

USP devices have been in the hands of researchers since 1989, but they've also been unmanageably large and notoriously difficult to operate. Schuler's company, funded to the tune of $35 million, has already shrunk its device to the size of a microwave oven.

There are plenty of short-term medical applications, such as cancer and optical surgery, that could benefit from greater precision. But Schuler wants Raydiance lasers to replace standard cutting tools in every industry, from lumberyards to aerospace factories.

More info? Visit: www.raydiance-inc.com/