Silver nanoparticles as a near-UV contrast agent injected into gel phantom

Clear gel ballistic phantom is used in medical physics to model the interaction of soft biological tissues with radiation. With emergence of new technologies like nanomedicine utilizing nanoparticles injected into the tumor and activated by optical radiation, it is important to study the optical properties of those particles injected into the gel phantom. For this purpose, we present the results of the spectral measurements of the absorption properties of silver nanoparticles, synthesized and embedded in gel phantom, as well as the index of refraction of the gel phantom at the 632.8 nm HeNe line. We also perform size-dependent Mie diffraction simulations for the absorption spectrum of the silver nanoparticle in phantom tissue over the wide range of the optical spectrum. This analysis indicates an absorption peak in the near-UV range which arises due to silver nanoparticle injection into the gel phantom. The study of the biotissue phantom with embedded silver nanoparticles as a contrast agent should be exploitable for effective imaging of tumors.