Dental laser system using midrange gas pressure
An improved dental laser system includes a DC power section that rectifies its AC electrical input energy in a format suitable for both CW and pulsed operation, an RF power supply operating in a range of about 40 to 125 MHz and configured for both CW and high peak power pulsing operation, a sealed-off, RF excited CO 2 waveguide or slab resonator laser filled to a gas at a pressure between about 260 to 600 Torr (or about 34,700-80,000 Pa), and a beam delivery system to steer the beam from the output of the laser to the mouth, such as the patient's mouth.
1. A CO 2 dental laser system comprising:
a direct current (DC) power supply;
a radio frequency (RF) power supply coupled to the DC power supply;
a CO 2 laser filled with a gas at a pressure in a range of about 260 to 600 Torr; and
a beam delivery system configured to steer laser optical energy output from the from the CO 2 laser to a patient.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the CO 2 laser includes a slab resonator.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the CO 2 laser includes a waveguide resonator.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the gas is a 12 C( 18 O) 2 gas.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the gas is a 12 C( 16 O) 2 gas.
6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the laser includes a set of resonator mirrors coated to resonate within a wavelength range of about 9.3 to 9.6 μmeters.
7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the DC power supply includes a low power continuous power section coupled to a capacitor bank to support high peak power pulsing.
8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the RF power supply is configured to be operated within a range of about 40 to 125 Mhz.
9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the RF power supply includes a set of high peak power pulsing RF transistors that operate in a range from continuous wave (CW) to about 25 KHz, with a duty cycle in a range of about 0 to 60%.
10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the beam delivery system includes a combination of flat or curved mirrors configured to steer optical energy output from the CO 2 laser.
11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the beam delivery system includes a hollow waveguide.
12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the CO 2 laser is operated in a pulsed mode and outputs optical energy having a wavelength of 9.3 to 9.6 μmeter, and a rise and fall time of not more than about 50 μseconds.
13. A CO 2 dental laser system comprising:
a direct current (DC) power supply, wherein the DC power supply is comprised of a continuous wave (CW) DC section and a pulsed DC section; a radio frequency (RF) power supply coupled to the DC power supply; a CO2 laser filled with a gas at a pressure in a range of about 260 to 600 Torr; and
a beam delivery system configured to steer laser optical energy output from the from the CO 2 laser to a patient.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the continuous wave (CW) DC section is configured to run the CO 2 laser for CW applications and the pulsed DC section is configured to run the CO 2 laser at peak energy for pulsing applications.
15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the CO 2 laser includes a slab resonator.
16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the CO 2 laser includes a waveguide resonator.
17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the gas is a 12 C( 18 O) 2 gas.
18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the gas is a 12 C( 16 O) 2 gas.
19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the CO 2 laser is operated in a pulsed mode and outputs optical energy having a wavelength of 9.3 to 9.6 μmeter and a rise and fall time of not more than about 2 μseconds.
20. A CO 2 dental laser system comprising:
a direct current (DC) power supply;
a radio frequency (RF) power supply coupled to the DC power supply;
a CO 2 laser filled with a gas at a pressure in a range of about 260 to 600 Torr; and
a beam delivery system configured to steer laser optical energy output from the from the CO 2 laser to a patient,
wherein the CO 2 laser is operated in a pulsed mode and outputs optical energy having a wavelength of 9.3 to 9.6 μmeter and a rise and fall time of not more than about 2 μseconds.
21. A method of outputting laser optical energy from a CO 2 dental laser system, the method comprising:
providing a direct current (DC) power supply;
providing a radio frequency (RF) power supply coupled to the DC power supply;
filling a CO 2 laser filled with a gas at a pressure in a range of about 260 to 600 Torr; and
steering the laser optical energy output from the from the CO 2 laser to a patient using a beam delivery system.