The sun may offer a cheaper alternative to traditional medical lasers, Israeli researchers said Wednesday.

Solar-powered lasers can kill tissues as well as medical lasers, but at a lower cost, said Jeffrey Gordon, a researcher at Ben-Gurion University in Negev, Israel, who led the study.

That could make the lasers affordable for hospitals that cannot buy traditional medical lasers, which concentrate electricity, he said.

There are limits, Gordon said in a telephone interview.

"This is only for sunny climates and even then for clear sky periods," Gordon said. "I do not wish to project the impression that we're offering some universally applicable solution."

Writing in the journal Applied Physics Letters, Gordon and colleagues said the solar-powered laser has been able to deliver about 5 watts to 8 watts of energy, similar to the power of some conventional medical lasers.

"Based on conversations I've had with manufacturers, I would project that if the solar surgery prototype could be mass produced, it has the potential to cost around $1,000 per unit," Gordon said in a statement.

Traditional medical lasers can cost up to $150,000 apiece.

Laser therapy for cancer involves the use of high-intensity light to destroy cancer cells. It can be used to relieve symptoms of cancer such as bleeding or obstruction, or to shrink or destroy tumors.

The solar system uses a collector outside the laboratory window. A mirror gathers sunlight, transfers the rays to a small, flat mirror above the dish and sends the solar energy through a fiber optic cable in the laboratory's floor.

In tests using chicken and rat livers, the researchers said they killed the same amount of tissue as medical lasers can destroy. "We have 'killed' up to several cubic centimeters of chicken liver in a few minutes with only a few watts of radiative power," Gordon said.

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