Yes, it is a lot of Watts, most of which is not useful for this purpose. It reminds me of that old Star Trek episode where these light sensitive parasitic creatures (which reminded me of flying fried eggs!) make people go crazy. One gets Spock in the back and to cure him, they expose him to the full spectrum and intensity of the sun at a close distance. Then, Dr. McCoy figures out that only one wavelength is needed.

I have not been able to confirm that water is transparent to IR light at 1072nm. All I've been able to find is the following from

"Looking at the graph we can see how water transmits virtually all of the light within the ultraviolet and visual spectrum wavelengths. Within most of the infrared wavelengths water acts as a barrier to light apart from a peak transparency at 1072nm and a smaller optical window at 1280nm. If we compare this transmission spectrum with the known and recognised wavelengths at which photobiological reactions occur we can see quite clearly that living cells have adapted by evolution to light transmitted by water."

So, according to Restorelite, water is opaque to most of the IR spectrum, and transparent at 1072nm.

My thoughts were that if water is transparent at 1072nm, then a layer of water would act as a filter. Only 1072nm (and 1280nm) should pass through, all other IR light should be blocked. No fine tuning would be necessary. An incandescent heat lamp will produce a wide spectrum of light, from visible to far infrared (heating). Somewhere in there should be 1072. A layer of water in a plastic bag would then filter out the heating IR. Of course, a timer like is commonly found connected to those heat lamps they have in showers and bathrooms would be crucial in order to limit the time that the light was on.

But, I don't know how to test this. If water IS transparent to 1072nm, then this method should work. I also don't know what the IR transmission spectrum of ziplock plastic bags is either. I would also prefer to use LEDs, but until I can obtain some, this is the best I can come up with.

I was also wondering if there is a ionized gas light source, like neon lights, that instead of emitting visible light, would emit NIR light.

Here is a link to a German company that makes an industrial heating lamp that targets the NIR spectrum.

I see where you're going. It probably wouldn't hurt you if you were very cautious about heat exposure time. You're saying that the proper wavelength would pass through the distilled water, acting as a filter in effect. Therefore only the 1072 nm wavelength would arrive at the scalp.

We need a physics person or a scientist to comment. I would guess that a college physics lab would contain the proper instruments to measure the wavelengths produced. The intensity of the infrared heat lamp may produce enough power (watts) to create enough intensity, however the only way to measure this after the water filter would be to use some instruments, maybe something measuring "candela". My physics knowledge is limited to just what was necessary for med school.

Rather than a plastic bag, due to the inevitable heat energy, I would use something like a glass aquarium as the filter. If you used say a few centimeters or a inch of distilled water, that would duplicate the effect with probably less potential of spillage, or melting plastic.

It's an interesting theory, and cheap. You could perform an experiment similar to :http://www4.ncsu.edu/~mowat/H&M_WebS...Wavelength.pdf
in a dark room, and perhaps derive the wavelength produced. Any ambient light would change the values. Again as I've noted before, you'd need use whatever device in a dark room to ensure that only the proper wavelength is being absorbed.

Instead of using a heat lamp, consider a low wattage halogen lamp. I'm presently running an experiment with a 50 watt GE halogen lamp ( 90633) and a water filter with some red food coloring to reduce the visible light.

A better choice I believe is the longpass filter from Edmunds Scientific which cuts out the visible and has little absorption between 700nm up to 1700nm. I have not yet received it yet from Edmunds. I would like to further restrict the light by adding another filter, but I have not found an optical bandpass filter in the 1070nm range yet.

Here's an interview with Dr Dougal. What's surprising is the schedule to bring a product to market. He suggests if all goes well then they could sell a helmet by January 2009.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n3758794.shtml

Has anyone tried building one of these helmets? I would like to be involved in any effort to do so, if only to donate some money to the cause

Tom, I'm not building a helmet but a stand-alone light source that can be used to irradiate various parts of the head. It's a similar concept except easier to implement. Keep checking this blog for progress reports.

Here's a paper that describes one man's experiences with LEDs and halogen lamps. The report is a great starting point if anyone wants to build their own light source for healing purposes:

http://heelspurs.com/led.html#str2

I would not attempt using a halogen as shown in the paper. It would be too easy to cause burns and or damage the lamp.

Has anyone read to see if near/far infra red light would work in a similar way as the LED lights in a helmet?

I'm just wondering if you don't really need the helmet to get the results.
If a correct light source is maybe just a lamp would work.??

I looked at these for my muscle pain and I did get a far infrared heating pad.
But I didn't study to see if something like this could apply to the brain.

anyway here's a few links -
http://altmed.creighton.edu/sauna/how_it_works.htm
http://www.activeforever.com/t-Press...ared_Heat.aspx
http://www.toolsforwellness.com/far-infrared.html

more -
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...on%27s&spell=1

What do you think of Nakandakari's post in which he suggests that it ccould be possible to modify an existing LED device?

For the spectral characteristics of water in the near infrared, see figure 1 of the following report: http://www.virulite.com/Clinical_Exp...gy_26_2001.pdf