A Study of the Effect of Terahertz Electromagnetic Radiation on Microbial Cell Viability

Resumo

Abstract—The effect of pulsed terahertz radiation at a wavelength of 66 μm, a pulse duration of 100 ns, and a pulse energy of 200 mJ on a suspension of microbial cells was studied. The effect of terahertz radiation was shown to cause cell death at a value of total energy of ~6 J. Since the temperature of the cell suspension after radiation remained almost unchanged, it implies that pulsed terahertz radiation exhibited a non-thermal effect. Methods of standard microbial plating, electron microscopy, electroacoustic analysis, and spectral analysis were used in order to verify the results. These experiments make it possible to control the viability of bacterial cells using terahertz radiation with certain parameters.