System and method for lasers in surgical applications
View Patent ↗Disclosed is a surgical laser system. The system includes a laser generator to generate laser radiation to cause water absorption levels that approximate water absorption levels achieved with a C0 2 laser, and one or more fibers coupled to the laser generator to deliver the generated laser radiation. In some embodiments, the laser generator is configured to generate radiation at multiple possible wavelengths in a range of between about 2.4 μm to about 2.75 μm.
1. A surgical laser system comprising:
a laser generator configured to generate laser radiation;
one or more fibers coupled to the laser generator to deliver the generated laser radiation;
wherein the surgical laser system is configured to apply the generated laser radiation to a target at wavelengths between 2.4 μm and 2.75 μm to cause water absorption levels that approximate water absorption levels achieved with a CO 2 laser; and;
wherein the laser generator comprises at least one laser diode, the laser diode comprising at least one quantum-well laser manufactured using an Antimonide (Sb) compound.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one quantum-well laser is manufactured using one of an In(A1)GaAsSb-based compound and a GaSb-based compound.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one laser diode comprises an array of laser diodes.
4. The system of claim 1 wherein the laser generator is configured to generate the laser radiation with wavelengths between 2.4 μm and 2.75 μm.
5. The system of claim 1 further comprising an optical transmitter coupled to the one or more fibers to direct the generated laser radiation to a target.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein said optical transmitter comprises a collimating lens arrangement.
7. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more fibers comprise one or more of:
sapphire fiber and a germanate glass fiber.
8. The system of claim 1 wherein the laser generator comprises a specially doped fiber laser.
9. The system of claim 1 wherein the laser generator comprises:
a wavelength converter to convert a first generated laser radiation having a first wavelength to a resultant-laser radiation having a resultant wavelength to be applied to the target.
10. The system of claim 9 wherein the wavelength converter comprises an Optical-Parametric-Oscillation-based wavelength converter.
11. The system of claim 9 wherein the wavelength converter is configured to convert the first generated laser radiation having the first wavelength to a resultant radiation having wavelengths between 2.41 μm and 2.75 μm.
12. The system of claim 1 further comprising:
a scope to receive the one or more fibers, the scope configured to be advanced through a body of a patient to a target area.
13. The system of claim 1 wherein the laser generator is configured to generate radiation at multiple possible wavelengths between 2.4 μm and 2.75 μm, and wherein the system further comprises a controller to cause the generated laser radiation to have a particular wavelength selected from the multiple possible wavelengths between 2.4 μm and 2.75 μm.
14. The system of claim 13 wherein the laser generator includes multiple diode arrays, each of the diode arrays configured to emit radiation having a different one of the multiple possible wavelengths between 2.4 μm and 2.75 μm, and wherein the controller is configured to electrically actuate the multiple diode arrays based, at least in part, on user-provided input, to cause one of the multiple diode arrays to emit radiation having the selected particular wavelength.
15. A method of using the surgical laser system of claim 1 , comprising:
generating laser radiation using the laser generator; and
delivering the generated laser radiation through the one or more fibers to a target at wavelengths between 2.4 μm and 2.75 μm to cause water absorption levels that approximate water absorption levels achieved with a CO2 laser.