"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正变得越来越普遍，全激光LASIK眼科手术现在已经成为一种常规手术，可以在商业街的眼镜店买到。然而，高昂的资金成本和传统飞秒激光技术的性能限制正在减缓该技术的普及，该技术仍然只占全球LASIK手术市场的20%左右。对于非选择性手术，如白内障，Costand的性能障碍变得更大，特别是在发展中国家，那里的诊所负担不起昂贵的仪器。需要商业上可行、紧凑、成本效益高的飞秒激光技术，才能在眼科广泛使用激光手术。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的灵感来自于菲尼特对最先进的超短脉冲光纤放大器技术的几项专利申请。新颖的放大器设计以简单的单一空间模式提供输出功率，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程序以及包括白内障修复在内的紧急程序中具有潜在的应用。原型的成功交付将提供一个极好的机会，进一步开发以治疗性方式扩大的全球工业和科学激光技术市场，造福英国公司和更广泛的英国经济。

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.