"MEGALASE" - Multi-mEGAwatt peak power ultrafast fibre LASEr for ophthalmic surgery

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Ultra-short pulse (Femtosecond) laser technology is becoming increasingly common withinophthalmic surgery, with all-laser LASIK eye surgery now becoming a routine procedure,available at high street opticians. However, high capital cost and limitations in performanceof traditional femtosecond laser technology are slowing down the uptake of the technology,which still only has approximately 20% of the global market for LASIK procedures. The costand performance barriers become even greater for non-elective procedures such as Cataract,especially within developing nations where clinics cannot afford high-cost instrumentation.A commercially viable, compact, cost-effective femtosecond laser technology is required toenable widespread use of laser-surgery in ophthalmology. MEGALASE will address thisneed by developing a prototype femtosecond laser delivering in excess of 20 Megawatts ofoptical peak power within pulses shorter than 500 Femtoseconds.MEGALASE is inspired by several Fianium patent applications for state of art ultrashortpulse fibre amplifier technology. The novel amplifier design delivers output power in apurely single spatial mode, offering the quality of beam that is essential for ophthalmicsurgery applications.Delivering more than 10 micro-Joules of pulse energy, the laser system output has potentialapplication within all existing elective refractive surgery procedures as well emergingprocedures including cataract repair.Successful delivery of the prototypes will present a fantastic opportunity to further exploit therapidly expanding global market for industrial and scientific laser technology to the benefit ofUK companies and the wider UK economy.