Thermal effect control for biomedical tissue by free electron laser

Abstract

An absorption characteristic and a thermal relaxation time of a target biomedical tissue is an important parameter for development of low-invasive treatment that considers of interaction between biomedical tissue and laser. Laser irradiations with a wavelength corresponding to the absorption characteristics of tissue enable selective treatment. Furthermore, the thermal effect to tissue can be controlled at the laser irradiation time which depends on the laser pulse width and reception rate. A free electron laser (FEL) can continuously vary the wavelength in the mid-infrared region, has a unique pulse structure; the structure at the Institute of the Free Electron Laser (iFEL) consist of train of macropulses with a 15 &mgr;s pulse width, and each macropulse contained a train of 300-400 ultrashort micropulse with a 5 ps pulse width. In a previous report, we have proposed a novel laser treatment such as soft tissue cutting, dental treatment and laser angioplasty using the tenability of the FEL. To investigate the thermal effect to the biomedical tissue, we developed a FEL pulse control system using an acousto-optic modulator (AOM). The AOM commonly are used the Q-switch for the pulse laser generation, has a high pulse control efficiency and good operationally. The system can control the FEL macropulse width from 200 ns. This system should be a novel tool for investigating the interaction between the FEL and biomedical tissue. In this report, the interaction between FEL pulse width and biomedical tissue will be discussed.