The Mai Tai DeepSee a one box femtosecond laser, which is another way of saying that the machine pulses its laser beam extremely quickly (A femtosecond is equivalent to 1 millionth of a billionth of a second). Recently, lasers like these were shown to be effective in killing viruses at the cell level, though more often they are used to help capture images, through a multiphoton fluorescence microscope for example.

The photograph above captures the laser's beam as it passes several times through a very thick piece of glass (the DeepSee itself looks like a boring old beige box). The laser compensates in advance for beam disruptions like thick glass so that it can still deliver superfast pulses at its destination.

We'd be excited if lasers like this could in fact clean blood of diseases the way these lasers clean buildings. Sadly, the evidence in favor of superfast lasers is scant, so it probably won't happen any time soon. — S.E. Kramer

Via Spectra-Physics