Debasis Pal

Continuous-wave and quasi-continuous wave thulium-doped all-fiber laser: implementation on kidney stone fragmentations.

A continuous-wave (CW) as well as quasi-continuous wave (QCW) thulium-doped all-fiber laser at 1.94 μm has been designed for targeting applications in urology. The thulium-doped active fiber with an octagonal-shaped inner cladding is pumped at 793 nm to achieve stable CW laser power of 10 W with 32% lasing efficiency (against launched pump power). The linear variation of laser power with pump offers a scope of further power scaling. A QCW operation with variation of duty cycle from 0.5% to 90%, repetition rate from 0.1 Hz to 1 kHz, and pulse width from 40 μs to 2 s has been presented. Laser power of 9.5 W in CW mode of operation and average power of 5.2 W with energy range of 10.4-104 mJ in QCW mode of operation has been employed to fragment calcium oxalate monohydrate kidney stones (size of 1.5-4 cm) having different colors and composition. Dependence of ablation threshold, ablation rate, and average fragmented particle size on the average power and energy has been studied. One minute of laser exposure results in fragmentation of a stone surface with ablation rate of 8  mg/min having minimum particle size of 6.54 μm with an average size of 20-100 μm ensuring the natural removal of fragmented parts through the urethra.

Universal fibre laser model used for the simulation of 2 µm Thulium fibre lasers

A universal simulation model for rare earth doped cw fibre lasers is presented. The model is based on generic rate and gain equations and therefore is very compact. It can be used for any fibre doped with one or several rare earth ions. The model allows for spectral simulations as well as radial discretization of the fibre. An algorithm was developed which optimizes the longitudinal fibre segmentation of the model. Spectroscopic parameters for Thulium doped fibre lasers are taken from the literature or derived from calculations. Calculated multiphonon up-conversion rates take the thermalisation of closely spaced states into account. The simulation is compared with measurement results of a coupled wavelength shift observed in a tunable fibre ring laser. The simulation allows to investigate possible explanations and it indicates that the phenomenon is a measurement artefact.

All-fiber laser at 1.94 µm: effect on soft tissue

A focused laser beam at wavelength of strong water absorption at 1.94 μm can be a good scalpel for precision soft tissue surgery. A fiber Bragg grating-based, all-fiber, continuous-wave as well as modulated, cladding pumped, thulium-doped fiber laser at 1.94 μm has been configured to deliver up to 10 W of laser power under pumping at 793 nm having an efficiency of 32 %. The laser was exposed to freshly sacrificed chicken breast at different power level and exposure time. The formalin-fixed samples were examined by microscopy to identify the ablation region, carbonization and necrosis region for laser parameter optimization.

Fiber laser at 2 μm for soft tissue surgery

Strong water absorption at 2 μm generated recent interest in lasers at this wavelength for soft tissue surgery. A fiber Bragg grating-based, all-fiber, continuous-wave, cladding pumped, thulium-doped fiber laser at 1.95 μm is configured. The thulium-doped active fiber with octagonal-shaped inner cladding is pumped at 808 nm (total power of 17 W) with six laser diodes through a combiner. The laser power of 3.3 W (after elimination of unabsorbed pump power through a passive fiber) with slope efficiency of 23% (against launched pump power) is achieved. The linear variation of laser power with pump offers scope of further power scaling.