Development of Low Temperature Microplasma Lamps for Biomedical Applications

For several, widespread dermatologic disorders such as psoriasis and Bowmans disease, no cure currently exists but the irradiation of the affected tissue at specific wavelengths in the ultraviolet UV) is the only known therapeutic treatment that drives the disorder into remission. Furthermore, currently available treatments based on lasers are expensive and access is severely restricted for the millions of patients in the U.S. alone) who suffer from these diseases. Recently, however, microcavity plasma technology developed at Eden Park Illumination EPI) and the University of Illinois has resulted in flat or curved) lamps that are thin and capable of emitting UV at discrete wavelengths. EPI has, for example, commercialized lamps as large as 5 5 161 cm2) in emitting area that generate more than 10 W of average power at 172 nm. These results are well beyond the performance available in the past from lamps emitting in the deep- ultraviolet, and it appears that this technology can be readily modified to operate at other UV wavelengths. EPI, the University of Illinois, and the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital have formed a team to pursue the development, clinical testing, and commercialization of lightweight and compact microplasma lamps that emit at 308 nm. Our focus is providing effective, low cost light sources for the treatment of psoriasis that will allow broader access for patients to treatment at a dramatically reduced cost. Lamps having an emitting area of 4 4 100 cm2) and output of ~20 mW/cm2 will be designed in Phase I of this program and a prototype of the lamp will be constructed. Phase II will focus on the fabrication in a process suitable for mass production), testing, and clinical verification of lamps as large as 12 12.