The characteristic blue glow of Cerenkov luminescence (CL) arises from the interaction between a charged particle travelling faster than the phase velocity of light and a dielectric medium, such as water or tissue. As CL emanates from a variety of sources, such as cosmic events, particle accelerators, nuclear reactors and clinical radionuclides, it has been used in applications such as particle detection, dosimetry, and medical imaging and therapy. The combination of CL and nanoparticles for biomedicine has improved diagnosis and therapy, especially in oncological research. Although radioactive decay itself cannot be easily modulated, the associated CL can be through the use of nanoparticles, thus offering new applications in biomedical research. Advances in nanoparticles, metamaterials and photonic crystals have also yielded new behaviours of CL. Here, we review the physics behind Cerenkov luminescence and associated applications in biomedicine. We also show that by combining advances in nanotechnology and materials science with CL, new avenues for basic and applied sciences have opened.

切伦科夫发光（CL）的特征性蓝光起因于传播速度快于光的相速的带电粒子与介电介质（例如水或组织）之间的相互作用。由于CL来自宇宙事件，粒子加速器，核反应堆和临床放射性核素等多种来源，因此它已用于诸如粒子检测，剂量测定以及医学成像和治疗等应用。CL和纳米颗粒用于生物医学的结合改善了诊断和治疗，尤其是在肿瘤学研究中。尽管放射性衰变本身不容易调节，但相关的CL可以通过使用纳米颗粒来实现，因此在生物医学研究中提供了新的应用。纳米粒子，超材料和光子晶体的进步也产生了CL的新行为。在这里，我们回顾了切伦科夫发光背后的物理学及其在生物医学中的相关应用。我们还表明，通过将纳米技术和材料科学的进步与CL结合起来，基础科学和应用科学的新途径已经打开。