Examination of light distribution from sol-gel based applicators for interstitial laser therapy

We describe here the construction of sol-gel based applicators for interstitial thermotheraphy. The silica sol-gel coatings were prepared from silicate precursor TEOS (tetraethylorthosilicate) mixed with ethyl alcohol in acid catalyzed hydrolysis. The matrices were produced with various ratios R=5, 10, 20, 32, 50, whereas R denotes the number of solvent molds (here ethanol) to the number of TEOS moles. The spatial light intensity distribution was examined in order to find out the influence of R factor on the light distribution shape. It was shows that the most homogeneous patterns are observed for sol-gel coatings with R factors equal 10 and 20.