Laser for ophthalmic surgery - comprises pulsed YAG system providing 400 pico second bursts of very high intensity radiation

摘要

The laser system for performing operations on the eye includes an optical bench (24) supporting an yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) laser (2) between a spherical concave mirror (1) and a Fabry-Perot etalon (3) which closes the cavity and allows the duration of pulses to be chosen. A shutter (4) is controlled by a pedal (13) to allow initial operation of the laser. The beam produced is passed via arms (9) linked with a hinged joint incorporating mirrors. The high intensity beam is reflected by a further mirror and high power converging lens (11) to the patient's eye. The converging lens has a power of the order of 10 dioptres. The beam has an intensity of 10 power 12 watts/cm but is used in pulses of only 20-400 picoseconds. The laser may be used surgically to operate on a patient's eye without having to cut the tissue of the eye.