Device for real-time non-contact skin temperature measurement

An electromagnetic radiation (EMR) delivery and monitoring system for non-invasive surface tissue temperature monitoring comprising:

• a first source of EMR operable to generate a treatment beam having a first wavelength range;
• a second source of EMR operable to generate an excitation beam having a second wavelength range, wherein the excitation beam is modulated at a modulation frequency fm;
• a signal detector positioned to receive the temperature dependent EMR emitted from one or more EMR responsive dopants;
• and
• a lock-in amplifier having a reference frequency equal to the modulation frequency fm, wherein the lock-in amplifier is configured to extract the temperature dependent EMR from background noise to increase a signal to noise ratio of the temperature dependent EMR.

An electromagnetic radiation (EMR) delivery and monitoring system for non-invasive surface tissue temperature monitoring comprising:

• a first source of EMR having a first wavelength range;
• a second source of EMR having a second wavelength range;
• and
• a signal detector positioned to receive temperature dependent EMR emitted from the EMR responsive dopants in response to EMR from the second source;
• a signal processor operable to determine a temperature of the target region of tissue based on the temperature dependent EMR;
• and
• a control system in communication with the signal processor, the control system operable to evaluate whether the temperature of the target region of tissue exceeds a safety threshold based on the temperature dependent EMR and to dynamically modulate at least one parameter of EMR from the first source in response thereto, wherein dynamically modulating comprises at least one of pausing, reducing power of, or terminating EMR from the first source.

A method of real-time non-invasive surface tissue temperature monitoring during an electromagnetic radiation (EMR) based treatment, the method comprising:

• positioning a tissue contacting material on a surface of a target region of tissue, the tissue contacting material comprising EMR responsive dopants;
• directing a treatment beam from a first source of EMR through the tissue contacting material to the target region of tissue;
• directing an excitation beam from a second source of EMR to the tissue contacting material, the excitation beam modulated at a modulation frequency fm, to cause the EMR responsive dopants to emit temperature dependent EMR;
• detecting the temperature dependent EMR emitted from the EMR responsive dopants;
• extracting the temperature dependent EMR from background noise using a lock-in amplifier having a reference frequency equal to the modulation frequency fm;
• and
• determining a temperature of the target region of tissue based on the extracted temperature dependent EMR.