setup is shown in
pulsed Ti:sapphire laser pumped by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at a
repetition rate of 10 Hz (Lotis TII; Symphotic) was used for the photothermolysis
experiment. The laser system provides laser pulses with a 15 ns pulsewidth
and wavelength options of 1064 and 532 nm and is continuously tunable
from 700 to 960 nm. A laser wavelength was selected to match the absorption
peak of the nanoparticle applied in each experiment.
The laser
beam was adjusted by a beam expander and then directed onto live tumor
cells seeded in microplates, which were placed under a Leica microscope
(Lecia Microsystems, Wetzlar, Germany). The images were acquired using
a cooled CCD camera (CoolSNAPPro, Media Cybernetics, Rockville, MD).
The incident laser energy density of the sample was regulated by controlling
either the laser pulse energy or the beam size. The laser pulse energy
was measured by a pyroelectric energy meter (PE25-C, Ophir, North
Logan, UT). The laser energy fluence on cells was calculated according
to the laser beam incident angle and verified by measurement. The
laser light from a continuous-wave diode laser (15 Plus, Doimed, U.K.)
at a wavelength of 808 nm was also directed onto tumor cells for a
side-by-side comparison with the pulsed laser light at the same wavelength.