PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tensmeyer, Lowell G.
AU  - Wright, Paul E.
AU  - Fegenbush, Douglas O.
AU  - Snapp, Stephen W.
TI  - Sterilization of Glass Containers by Laser Initiated Plasmas
DP  - 1981 May 01
TA  - PDA Journal of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology
PG  - 93--97
VI  - 35
IP  - 3
4099  - http://journal.pda.org/content/35/3/93.short
4100  - http://journal.pda.org/content/35/3/93.full
SO  - PDA J Pharm Sci Technol1981 May 01; 35
AB  - The sterilizing process for empty containers to be filled with parenteral products should leave the container dry, clean, cool, and free of particulate matter, as well as sterile. It should be inexpensive, fast, and amenable to in-line processing. Such a process has been reduced to practice. When pulsed, the laser initiates a plasma whose lifetime is extended by the microwave field as long as desired, typically a few milliseconds. Conditions can be achieved that result in the reduction of Bacillus subtilis spore count by six orders of magnitude, producing a sterile container.