Development and application of fibre lasers for medical applications

Recent progress in fibre laser technology has provided lasers operating at mid-infrared wavelengths, at power levels and temporal regimes previously inaccessible to bulk crystal lasers. This paper reports on the development of new continuous wave fibre lasers; a Tm-silica fibre laser operating at 1.98 μm, an Er,Pr:ZBLAN fibre laser at 2.78 μm and a Yb:Er-silica fibre laser at 1.5 μm, and pulsed fibre laser sources; gain-switched and Q-switched Tm-silica systems, specifically targeting applications in medicine. The first studies on the interaction of high-power, continuous wave mid-infrared fibre laser light and soft biological tissues are presented, demonstrating the ability of 2 and 3 μm fibre lasers to remove soft tissue cleanly, and with minimal collateral damage.