Method for modifying the refractive index of an optical material

1. A method of changing the index of refraction of an optical hydrogel that is a component of an optical device for vision correction, the method comprising: providing a physician with a laser system to irradiate select regions of the optical hydrogel following implantation of the optical device into the eye of the patient, the laser system comprising a laser having a laser pulse energy from 0.01 nJ to 50 nJ and a light wavelength from 600 nm to 900 nm; wherein the irradiated regions are formed by scanning the laser light in an X-Y plane, the irradiated regions characterized by a positive change in refractive index of from 0.01 to 0.06.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the irradiated regions comprise an area or volume filled structure.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the area or volume filled structure is defined by a series of line scans, the line scans having a width from 0.2 μm to 3 μm, and a height from 0.4 μm to 8 μm, wherein the height is measured in a Z-direction parallel to the laser beam.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the laser light has a pulse width and the laser system includes negative compensation to compensate for a positive dispersion of the laser pulse width introduced by focusing objectives.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the area or volume filled structure is a vertically stacked structure wherein the irradiated regions are formed separately in different planes in the hydrogel in a Z-direction parallel to the laser beam.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the laser light has a pulse energy from 0.2 nJ to 10 nJ.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the optical device is selected from an intraocular lens, a corneal inlay, a corneal ring or a keratoprothesis.

8. A method for modifying the refractive index of an optical, polymeric material, the method comprising irradiating select regions of the optical, polymeric material with a focused, visible or near-IR laser having a pulse energy from 0.05 nJ to 1000 nJ, wherein the irradiated regions exhibit a change in refractive index of at least 0.01.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the irradiated regions and regions having no irradiation have no significant differences in the Raman spectrum.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the pulse energy of the laser is from 0.2 nJ to 100 nJ.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the visible or near-IR laser generates pulses having a pulse width of 4 fs to 100 fs.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the the pulse width is maintained by a compensation scheme selected from the group consisting of at least two prisms and at least one mirror, at least two diffraction gratings, a chirped mirror and dispersion compensating mirrors to compensate for positive dispersion introduced by a focus objective.

13. The method of claim 8 wherein the pulse energy of the laser is from 0.5 nJ to to 10 nJ.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the region of the optical material irradiated by the laser exhibits a positive change in the refractive index from 0.02 to 0.06.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the optical material is an intraocular lens that has been positioned in the lens capsule of a patient.

16. The method of claim 8 wherein the optical, polymeric material is a hydrogel.

17. The method of claim 8 wherein the optical polymeric material is formed into an optical device containing the irradiated regions.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of irradiating select regions forms a three dimensional structure within the optical device.

19. The method of claim 17 in which the optical device is selected from the group consisting of an intraocular lens, a corneal inlay, a corneal ring or a keraprothesis.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the optical polymeric material is prepared from (meth)acrylate monomer selected from the group consisting of 2-hydroxymethyl (meth)acrylate, 2-phenylethyl (meth)acrylate, methyl(meth)acrylate and 3-phenylpropyl (meth)acrylate.