Efficient Microbial Decontamination of Translucent Liquids and Gases Using Optical Metamaterials

Abstract

An effective way of decontamination using optical metamaterials like photonic crystals consisting of glass microspheres or granulated quartz with various geometries is proposed. The efficient decontamination using the evanescent zone of metamaterials opens a new perspective in pathogen decontamination. We propose different topological structures of metamaterials to enlarge the contact surface of ultraviolet radiation with polluted translucent fluids. The approach is based upon the increased transfer of UV radiation via evanescent waves of metamaterials into contaminated translucent fluids. A series of experimental estimations of the decontamination rate of this type of metamaterials have been made. For these investigations, a decontamination core filled up with metamaterials is used through which the contaminated fluid freely flows. Experiments have conclusively proved that evanescent zone of quartz and optical fiber metamaterials can effectively inactivate Coliform (including Escherichia coli), or Enterococcus bacteria, as well as yeast and Kombucha cultures.

UVC radiation intensity dependence of pathogen decontamination rate: semiclassical theory and experiment

“…Here, the first-order terms were neglected, considering that in the absence of the external field one uses the property of the symmetry, V (−x) V (x), and the higher-order terms are included in δ V (Q, ), particularly studied in Ref. [10]. As a result of these transformations, one gets the Hamiltonian for the nuclei in a new form…”

“…The growing need for decontamination of fluids, especially translucent ones as liquids, including water, gas, aerosols, air droplets, etc., opens up opportunities for innovative research in this direction [8][9][10][11][12][13]. Application of UV radiation for decontamination of fluids and surfaces from viruses and bacteria requires an effective method of inactivation of microorganisms by radiation.…”

“…Open surfaces of translucent fluids cannot give us the expected result in this area due to the reduced penetration depth of UVC radiation into the fluid. For example, in [9,10], we have analyzed the total contact surface with the contaminated fluid, formed due to the quasiperiodic optical system that contains quartz metamaterials, such as close-packed optical fibers or microspheres connected to each other through an evanescent UVC field. In this situation, an additional decontamination volume is obtained, which is proportional to the contact surface multiplied by the depth of transmission of UVC radiation inside the fluid.…”

“…For example, the work [8] was focused on estimating the critical intensity of the UVC field for which DNA/RNA pyrimidine dimerization becomes significant. Motivated by this idea, here we develop the disinfection model proposed in [10], using the quantum-theoretical approach to pyrimidine dimerization in DNA. In the normal state of DNA, it is known that the guanine (G) is paired with cytosine (C) through three hydrogen bonds, and adenine (A) is paired with thymine (T ) through two hydrogen bonds.…”

Topological Avenue for Efficient Decontamination of Large Volumes of Fluids via UVC Irradiation of Packed Metamaterials

“…For quick decontamination of large volumes, a new architecture of fluid channels between the metamaterial elements [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ] obtained by the insertion of smaller elements of metamaterial in-between big ones was proposed. This approach opens the supplementary contact surfaces for UVC radiation with the fluids.…”