Paper
20 March 2013 Flexible delivery of Er:YAG radiation at 2.94 μm with novel hollow-core silica glass fibres: demonstration of tissue ablation
Artur Urich, Robert R. J. Maier, Jonathan C. Knight, Fei Yu, Duncan P. Hand, Jonathan D. Shephard
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Abstract
In this work we present the delivery of high energy Er:YAG laser pulses operating at 2.94 μm through a hollow-core negative curvature fibre (HC-NCF) and a hollow-core photonic crystal fibre (HC-PCF) and their use for the ablation of biological tissue. In HC-NCF fibres, which have been developed recently, the laser radiation is confined in a hollow core and by an anti-resonant or reflection principle (also known as ARROW). Both fibres are made of fused silica which has high mechanical and chemical durability, is bio-inert and results in a fibre with the flexibility that lends itself to easy handling and minimally invasive procedures. The HC-NCF structure consists of only one ring of capillaries around a realtively large core, followed by a protecting outer layer, hence the preform is relatively easy to build compared to traditional HC-PCF. The measured attenuation at 2.94 μm is 0.06 dB/m for the HC-NCF and 1.2 dB/m for the HC-PCF. Both fibres have a single mode output beam profile which can be advantageous for surgical applications as the beam profile is maintained during fibre movement. We demonstrate delivery of high energy pulses through both fibres, well above the thresholds needed for the ablation of biological tissue in non-contact and contact mode. Delivered energy densities reached > 750 J/cm-2 after 10 m of HC-NCF and > 3400 J/cm2 through a 44 cm HC-PCF.
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Artur Urich, Robert R. J. Maier, Jonathan C. Knight, Fei Yu, Duncan P. Hand, and Jonathan D. Shephard "Flexible delivery of Er:YAG radiation at 2.94 μm with novel hollow-core silica glass fibres: demonstration of tissue ablation", Proc. SPIE 8576, Optical Fibers and Sensors for Medical Diagnostics and Treatment Applications XIII, 857608 (20 March 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2002430
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KEYWORDS
Tissues

Er:YAG lasers

Silica

Signal attenuation

Laser ablation

Neodymium

Photonics

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