Mapping of the electromagnetic emission from the atmospheric-pressure helium plasma discharge tube for cancer treatment*

Cold atmospheric plasma contains various types of active chemical reactive species and emits broadband electromagnetic radiation. Up to date, the chemical species produced in plasma have mostly been considered as major active factors affecting living cells during cancer therapy. However, it was found recently that in case if the treated cells are isolated from plasma itself and all plasma-produced chemical species by the thin-walled dielectric vessel (so-called Plasma Discharge Tube, or PDT), electromagnetic radiation from plasma start to play the major role in affecting the cells and their sensitization making the cancer cells vulnerable for the specialized additional chemical treatment.

In this work we study the spatial distribution and frequency composition of the non-visible electromagnetic radiation emitting from PDT. Results of the spatial distribution of the amplitudes of the electromagnetic radiation are compared with the results of the survival rates of the cancer cells placed at different distances from the discharge tube, including the situation when the emission from PDT is partially or fully blocked by broadband filters.