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

超短脉冲（飞秒）激光技术在眼科手术中越来越普遍，全激光LASIK眼科手术现在已经成为常规手术，在大街上的眼镜店都可以买到。然而，高昂的资金成本和传统飞秒激光技术在性能上的局限性阻碍了该技术的普及，目前该技术仅占全球LASIK手术市场的20%左右。对于白内障等非选择性手术来说，性价比障碍甚至更大，尤其是在诊所负担不起高成本仪器的发展中国家。为了在眼科中广泛应用激光手术，需要一种商业上可行、紧凑、经济的飞秒激光技术。MEGALASE将通过开发一种原型飞秒激光器来满足这一需求，该激光器在短于500飞秒的脉冲内提供超过20兆瓦的光峰值功率。MEGALASE的灵感来自于几项Fianium专利申请，用于最先进的超短脉冲光纤放大器技术。新颖的放大器设计提供纯单空间模式的输出功率，提供对眼科手术应用至关重要的光束质量。激光系统输出的脉冲能量超过10微焦耳，在所有现有的选择性屈光手术以及包括白内障修复在内的新兴手术中具有潜在的应用前景。原型机的成功交付将为进一步开发迅速扩大的全球工业和科学激光技术市场提供一个绝佳的机会，从而使英国公司和更广泛的英国经济受益。

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.