{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T06:22:13Z","timestamp":1787638933602,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":21,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1787616000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"\n Background<\/jats:title>\n Airborne transmission remains a challenge for infection prevention and control in healthcare environments, motivating compact air-disinfection technologies.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n \n A compact 266 nm multi-reflection laser-curtain module was developed, providing two effective curtain widths (96 mm and 200 mm). Aerosolised Staphylococcus albus (S. albus; a coagulase-negative staphylococcal bacterial surrogate) was tested in (i) a mixed-air 20 m\n 3<\/jats:sup>\n enclosure for time-dependent inactivation and (ii) a duct-flow single-pass rig using three curtains in series with paired upstream-downstream sampling. Matched no-UV controls were used for baseline correction, with first-order kinetics used for room-scale analysis.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n In the 20 m\n 3<\/jats:sup>\n enclosure, inactivation increased with operating time. The 96 mm curtain achieved ~66\u201369% at 5 min and exceeded 98% by 30 min, approaching \u226599.9% with extended operation. The 200 mm curtain exceeded 99.5% by 20 min and approached \u226599.99% at longer times, with a numerically higher apparent rate constant (0.190 vs. 0.127 min\n \u22121<\/jats:sup>\n ). In the duct-flow system, three curtains maintained \u226599.0% single-pass inactivation across 1.2\u20139.6 m\/s.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n The multi-reflection 266 nm laser-curtain achieved high inactivation in controlled room-scale and duct single-pass tests, supporting further engineering evaluation of this air-disinfection concept rather than immediate healthcare deployment.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1809909","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,25]],"date-time":"2026-08-25T05:35:25Z","timestamp":1787636125000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A 266-nm multi-reflection laser curtain for airborne bacterial inactivation in a 20-m3 chamber and a single-pass duct testbed"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Chenjie","family":"Guo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical 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