The copper vapor laser (CVL) is an efficient, high average power, high pulse rate visible laser, emitting in the green and the yellow. Previous applications of CVLs have been limited to those requiring a high power visible laser source but with no specific need for high output beam quality. Recently we have made substantial progress in understanding the factors that influence CVL beam quality. As a result we are now able to achieve efficient non-linear frequency conversion to produce a number of ultraviolet wavelengths with near- diffraction limited beam quality. The high repetition rate and low divergence uv output of the frequency-doubled CVL makes it an attractive alternative to the excimer laser for a number of applications, including high-speed precision hole-drilling, cutting and scoring in polymers and for deep-uv photolithography. We report here recent developments that have led to efficient generation of uv wavelengths from copper vapor lasers and we demonstrate its potential as a laser source for high-speed precision ultraviolet micromachining.
Laser angioplasty continues to attract interest as a potential method for treating
atherosclerotic arterial disease. Current efforts are aimed at finding the most effective
combination of laser and delivery system. High energy pulsed ultraviolet or infrared lasers
demonstrate good photoablative properties but there remain practical difficulties with the
optical fibre delivery. Continuous wave lasers are widely used in conjunction with "hot-tip"
fibres for thermal ablation but their direct (optical) ablation efficiency is low, causing
significant surrounding thermal damage in soft tissue. While considerable attention has been
directed previously at the ablative effects for different laser wavelengths, little systematic
study has been made of the efficacy for different temporal rates of energy deposition.
We have compared the efficacy for tissue ablation in cadaveric human aorta of three different
laser systems with similar wavelengths in the visible (green) but different temporal rates of
energy deposition. The laser sources were the continuous wave argon ion laser (514.5 nm), the
high pulse energy, frequency doubled Nd:YAG laser (532 nm) and the copper vapour laser. The
copper vapour laser is a high repetition rate, high average power, pulsed laser emitting in the
green (511 nm) and yellow (578 nm) which has temporal characteristics intermediate between
those of the Nd:YAG laser and the argon ion laser, and has the potential to be effective both
for direct optical ablation and hot-tip thermal ablation.
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