Development of a high average power picosecond fiber amplifier for biomedical applications

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Laser surgery represents a huge and profitable market growing at a rapid rate. Many lasers are now commonly**used for various medical procedures namely in general surgery, ophthalmology and aesthetics. Generally, to**obtain an efficient cutting of high-water content tissues, such as for medical procedures, the use of a laser**source that strongly interacts with water is required. Moreover, to avoid thermal damage to collateral tissues,**lasers are generally operated in short pulsed regime. To meet the requirements of laser surgery, Light-Matter**Interaction Inc. (LMI) has developed a laser system that produces high-energy picosecond pulses at a**wavelength of 2.9 microns, near the absolute maximum absorption of water. This laser system has**demonstrated its efficiency to meet the most demanding applications in ophthalmologic procedures. However,**the laser system developed by LMI is based on an inefficient solid-state architecture of frequency down**conversion, which results in a quite low overall electrical to optical efficiency for the generation of pulsed light**near 2.9 microns. Moreover, this cumbersome laser system is based on nonlinear frequency conversion**therefore requiring water-cooling to operate at the required energy and power level, which are major**impediment to its commercialization in the medical market. This Engage Plus grant proposal represents the**direct continuation of a recent collaborating effort with LMI made in 2018 through an Engage grant recently**concluded with the scope of improving the performances of a fiber-based laser system. Over this 6 months**project, we successfully demonstrated and published in a high-impact journal in laser science a proof of**concept fiber amplifier producing high-energy pulses near 2.9 microns at a maximum average power of 2.5W,**perfectly adapted for laser surgery in ophthalmology. The goal of the current proposal is to increase the average**output power and pulse energy to the 10W-level and 500microJ-level respectively to support the most**demanding medical laser procedures.