We report on a newly developed Q-switched diode side-pumped Er:YLF solid state laser emitting at 2.81 μm. Efficient short pulse generation is achieved by utilizing the relatively long lifetime of the upper laser level and the inherently linear polarized laser light of the Er:YLF crystal material. By means of an acousto-optic switch, peak powers of 50 kW with corresponding pulse widths of 70 ns and pulse energies of up to 3.5mJ are realized at a repetition rate of 100 Hz. The laser operates efficiently at room temperature and has a compact nature, enabling minimized thermal impact tissue ablation as well as pumping of non-linear crystals for mid-IR generation.
We report on a newly developed high-energy diode side-pumped Er:YLF solid state laser emitting at at 2.81 μm. The pulsed laser generates 100 mJ pulses at 400 μs and 100 Hz, respectively 10W average laser power. The laser operates efficiently at room temperature and has a good beam quality of M2 < 12. The long lifetime of the upper laser level and the inherently linearly polarized laser beam of Er:YLF enables efficient Q-switching for tissue ablation with nanosecond pulses and pumping of non-linear crystals for mid-IR generation.
We report on a novel monolithic high-power diode pumped Tm:YAG laser at 2.02 μm. The pulsed laser generates average output power and pulse energy of beyond 90W and 900mJ in 400 μs pulses, respectively. This wavelength allows usage of standard fused silica fibers and optics, a price competitive solution for minimally-invasive endoscopic surgery. Recent developments in double-clad fiber combiners enable a rugged delivery system for the laser and the OCT ideal for a seeing laser scalpel. This gives the possibility to detect in-depth underlying tissue not yet ablated by the laser in a 2D or 3D fashion with micrometer resolution.
We demonstrated a monolithic high-power diode-pumped Er:YAG laser at 2.94 μm with average output power of up to 50W and pulse energy beyond 300mJ in 400 μs pulses. The high peak power of nearly 1kW is delivered in a high quality beam (M2 < 15), maintained over a large cooling water temperature range of 18-25 °C. The improved resonator configuration allows for stable operation from 0-10% duty-cycle in contrast to prior developments showing saturation. As a first application, fiber-coupling into a 230 μm, 0.2NA GeO2-fiber with standard optics has been shown, reaching 30W average power and 200mJ pulse energy out of the fiber, only limited by the fiber..
We present a high power visible diode laser enabling a low-cost treatment of eye diseases by laser coagulation, including the two leading causes of blindness worldwide (diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration) as well as retinopathy of prematurely born children, intraocular tumors and retinal detachment. Laser coagulation requires the exposure of the eye to visible laser light and relies on the high absorption of the retina. The need for treatment is constantly increasing, due to the demographic trend, the increasing average life expectancy and medical care demand in developing countries. The World Health Organization reacts to this demand with global programs like the VISION 2020 “The right to sight” and the following Universal Eye Health within their Global Action Plan (2014-2019). One major point is to motivate companies and research institutes to make eye treatment cheaper and easily accessible. Therefore it becomes capital providing the ophthalmology market with cost competitive, simple and reliable technologies. Our laser is based on the direct second harmonic generation of the light emitted from a tapered laser diode and has already shown reliable optical performance. All components are produced in wafer scale processes and the resulting strong economy of scale results in a price competitive laser. In a broader perspective the technology behind our laser has a huge potential in non-medical applications like welding, cutting, marking and finally laser-illuminated projection.
Many laser applications require a circular, astigmatism-free, diffraction limited, high power beam. A tapered laser diode can generate up to 6 W output power in a diffraction limited beam. However the beam is elliptical and highly astigmatic rendering the design of beam shaping challenging. We present a diffraction limited beam shaping design, especially suitable to circularize and collimate highly astigmatic beams. The setup consists of a simple plano-convex cylindrical lens in the aplanatic condition and an asphere. The first lens matches the divergence of the fast- to the slow axis at the point where the beam is circular while the following asphere collimates the beam. The aplanatic condition is fulfilled by choosing a glass with a specific refractive index depending on the ratio between fast- and slow axis divergence. This cylindrical lens introduces neither spherical error nor primary coma, which makes it insensitive to misalignment. The setup has been tested with a high power laser diode at 980 nm with a 6 mm long taper (angle 6°) and a facet width of 425 μm. The optics have a transmission of about 90% and the resulting beam has a M2 < 1.5. As a proof of principle 3.2 W were coupled into a 15 μm (NA 0.06) LMA fiber with 55% efficiency corresponding to a brightness B = 140 MW/(cm2 sr). Furthermore the presented beam shaping can easily be extended to bars or multiple emitters to reach power levels that are to date only achievable with complex wavelength combination techniques.
We report on a new monolithic high-power diode pumped Er:YAG solid state laser at 2.94 µm. The pulsed laser reaches 30Waverage output power and 150mJ pulse energy. To accomplish these high powers the thermal lensing of Er:YAG was modeled beyond ABCD matrix formalism with FEM simulations. With the well understood thermal lensing e ect alternative laser cavities have been designed for higher brightness. The predicted results t the theoretically simulated performance and with that an improved beam quality factor of M2 = 12 has been achieved with 100mJ pulse energy.
A high power, diode-pumped Er:YAG laser platform is presented, which has been integrated into devices for soft as well
as hard tissue applications. The highly efficient side pumping by qcw laser diodes allows easy power scalability and
miniaturization proven by a portable fractional ablative laser system based on a 2 W laser. The high repetition rate of up
to 1 kHz combined with low energy pulses generates high thermal impact and consequently strong skin rejuvenation.
Furthermore a laser for hard tissue applications with up to 15 W average output power at repetition rates up to 2 kHz is
presented. The good beam quality allows coupling to 200 μm fibers and the variable pulse duration of 1 to 200 μs
ensures precise and fast treatments.
Pantec Medical Laser presents a diode pumped Er:YAG laser for dental and hard tissue applications. The diode pumped
laser is practically maintenance free and ensures reliable operation over several thousand hours. The high repetition rate
with up to 15 W average output power, allows treatments otherwise not feasible with low repetition rate, lamp pumped
Er:YAG systems. The variable pulse duration of 10 to 200 μs combined with the good beam quality ensures precise and
fast treatment. First results on enamel ablation as well as the power scalability of the technology to 200 mJ and 30 W
average power are also shown.
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