Flexible beam guiding in a microsurgical UV laser scalpel

Georg Hillrichs; Hartmut Dietz; Martin Ruetting; Stanislaw Schastak; Peter Wiedemann; Yuji Matsuura; Mitsunobu Miyagi; Karl-Friedrich Klein

doi:10.1117/12.463813

26 March 2002 Flexible beam guiding in a microsurgical UV laser scalpel

Georg Hillrichs, Hartmut Dietz, Martin Ruetting, Stanislaw Schastak, Peter Wiedemann, Yuji Matsuura, Mitsunobu Miyagi, Karl-Friedrich Klein

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4616, Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Applications II; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.463813
Event: International Symposium on Biomedical Optics, 2002, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

Many potential microsurgical applications of UV laser radiation need a flexible beam guiding system. Especially for the argon fluorine excimer laser ((lambda) equals 193 nm) and for the 5th harmonic of the Nd:YAG laser ((lambda) equals 213 nm) the use of optical fused silica fibers is difficult. In this work we designed and tested a laboratory prototype of a scalpel for surgical treatments of the retina based on UV laser ablation. To achieve the necessary flexibility and to provide laser fluences above the ablation threshold of retina we developed a new type of beam guiding device. A hollow core waveguide is used in combination with a short length of a special fused silica optical fiber to guide the laser beam. To increase the laser fluence at the distal scalpel tip and to achieve a very small cut width a fused silica fiber (core diameter 600 micrometers ) has been tapered down to a diameter of about 150 micrometers .

Citation Download Citation

Georg Hillrichs, Hartmut Dietz, Martin Ruetting, Stanislaw Schastak, Peter Wiedemann, Yuji Matsuura, Mitsunobu Miyagi, and Karl-Friedrich Klein "Flexible beam guiding in a microsurgical UV laser scalpel", Proc. SPIE 4616, Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Applications II, (26 March 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.463813

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