Development of Microchip Laser for Ophthalmic Therapy Application

Abstract

We have recently developed a several milli-joule, sub-nanosecond laser source for ophthalmic therapy application which allows to lower a laser breakdown threshold, less than half, and more stably/effectively yield the breakdown phenomenon compared to that based on conventionally employed source, implying the developed source has a potential to realize more minimally invasive ophthalmic treatment for secondary cataract. For further laser performance, the use of a photonic crystal device as an output coupler of the laser source has been also demonstrated. With this system, pulse width shortening and polarization control of the laser output could be achieved simultaneously. This paper presents these recent ophthalmic laser developments.