Paper
12 September 2002 Q-switched Er:YAG radiation transmission through an oxide glass fiber for medical applications
Author Affiliations +
Abstract
In the last few years, there has been an increasing interest for the 3 m laser radiation in various medical applications, as this wavelength is strongly absorbed by the water and the other components of soft and hard tissue. An intensive development effort is going on throughout the world, in order to develop reliable lasers emitting in the 3 m wavelength range. Our laser development effort with the Q-switched Er:YAG laser is briefly described in this article. Additionally for medical applications there is a great demand for good flexible delivery systems, in the mid-IR wavelength region. In this work the radiation transmission of a Q-switched Er:YAG laser, emitting at 2.94 m, through high power (HP) oxide glass fibers of 450 ?m core diameter was studied. Attenuation measurements were obtained as a function of the laser energy input and as a function of curvature, at 90o, 180o and 360o bending angle. The output beam quality was studied using a beam profiler. Experiments with the same delivery system transmitting free-running Er:YAG laser radiation, were performed for comparison. The results are promising for the delivery of Q-switched Er:YAG laser radiation, as the fibers exhibited attenuation of 0.7 dB/m, and no damage of them was observed.
© (2002) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Dimitris N. Papadopoulos, Eirini Papagiakoumou, and Alexander A. Serafetinides "Q-switched Er:YAG radiation transmission through an oxide glass fiber for medical applications", Proc. SPIE 4916, Optics in Health Care and Biomedical Optics: Diagnostics and Treatment, (12 September 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.482999
Lens.org Logo
CITATIONS
Cited by 4 scholarly publications.
Advertisement
Advertisement
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission  Get copyright permission on Copyright Marketplace
KEYWORDS
Er:YAG lasers

Q switched lasers

Signal attenuation

Glasses

Oxides

Laser energy

Fiber lasers

RELATED CONTENT


Back to Top