Abstract
Laser-induced optical breakdown by nano-second duration NcbYAG laser pulses has been used in clinical ophthalmology for posterior cap-sulotomies and for incision of vitreous membranes.1 Nanosecond optical breakdown produces a zone of tissue damage ranging up to 2 mm in diameter. Picosecond pulses have the advantage of greater peak intensities for a given pulse energy, and therefore breakdown can occur at significantly lower energies.2 Because the radius of tissue damage principally depends on the pulse energy and not the pulse duration, picosecond lasers will allow the desired surgical photodisruption at much lower pulse energies and with better containment of the collateral damage.3 In this study we demonstrate experimental vitreous membrane cutting using a high repetition rate picosecond Nd:YAG laser. A single 100 picosecond pulse was selected from a mode-locked, Q-switched pulse train at repetition rates up to 1000 Hz. The selected pulses were focused over an inverted microscope, where a cultured fibroblast monolayer was suspended in buffered saline. By moving the translation stage of the microscope, linear incisions and severing of the monolayers was achieved at pulse energies of 80 μJ and at repetition rates of 50-200 Hz.
© 1991 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
Yaron Hefetz, Johann Roider, Thomas F. Deutsch, Thomas Flotte, Reginald Bimgruber, Carmen A. Puliafito, and James G. Fujimoto
CWF52 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 1991
S. Trokel
WK2 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 1983
B. ZYSSET, JAMES G. FUJIMOTO, THOMAS F. DEUTSCH, R. BIRNGRUBER, and CARMEN A. PULJAFITO
TUH2 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO:S&I) 1989