Femtosecond laser pulses for destroying viruses

A physicist and his biologist son destroyed a common virus using a femtosecond pulsing laser, without harming healthy cells. "We have demonstrated a technique of using a laser to excite vibrations on the shield of a virus and damage it, so that it's no longer functional," said Kong-Thon Tsen, a professor of physics at Arizona State University.

The laser shattered the virus at low energy: 40 times lower than the energy level that harms human T-cells. Other types of radiation, like ultraviolet light, kill microbes on produce, but would damage human cells. The virus-deactivating laser works on forced resonance - tuning the laser to the same frequency the virus vibrates on.

See Wired.