Silica hollow core microstructured fibers for beam delivery in industrial and medical applications
The focus of this review is our recent work to develop microstructured hollow core fibers for two applications where the flexible delivery of a single mode beam is desired. Also, a review of other fiber based solutions is included.High power, short-pulsed lasers are widely used for micro-machining,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphy.2015.00024/full |
| _version_ | 1819240441628852224 |
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| author | Jonathan Dale Shephard Artur eUrich Richard M Carter Piotr eJaworski Robert R J Maier Walter eBelardi Fei eYu William eWadsworth Jonathan C Knight Duncan P Hand |
| author_facet | Jonathan Dale Shephard Artur eUrich Richard M Carter Piotr eJaworski Robert R J Maier Walter eBelardi Fei eYu William eWadsworth Jonathan C Knight Duncan P Hand |
| author_sort | Jonathan Dale Shephard |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The focus of this review is our recent work to develop microstructured hollow core fibers for two applications where the flexible delivery of a single mode beam is desired. Also, a review of other fiber based solutions is included.High power, short-pulsed lasers are widely used for micro-machining, providing high precision and high quality. However, the lack of truly flexible beam delivery systems limits their application to the processing of relatively small planar components. To address this, we developed hollow-core optical fibers for the 1 μm and green wavelength ranges. The hollow core overcomes the power delivery limitations of conventional silica fibers arising from nonlinear effects and material damage in the solid core. We have characterized such fibers in terms of power handling capability, damage threshold, bend loss and dispersion, and practically demonstrated delivery of high peak power pulses from the nanosecond to the femtosecond regime. Such fibers are ideal candidates for industrial laser machining applications.In laser surgical applications, meanwhile, an Er:YAG laser (2.94 μm) is frequently the laser of choice because the water contained in tissue strongly absorbs this wavelength. If this laser beam is precisely delivered damage to surrounding tissue can be minimized. A common delivery method of surgical lasers, for use in the operating theatre, is articulated arms that are bulky, cumbersome and unsuitable for endoscopic procedures. To address this need for flexible mid-IR delivery we developed silica based hollow core fibers. By minimizing the overlap of the light with glass it is possible to overcome the material absorption limits of silica and achieve low attenuation. Additionally, it is possible to deliver pulse energies suitable for the ablation of both hard and soft tissue even with very small bend radii. The flexibility and small physical size of systems based on these fibers will enable new minimally invasive surgical procedures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-23T14:08:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8939264acb314673a811dafbc541946e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-424X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-23T14:08:04Z |
| publishDate | 2015-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-8939264acb314673a811dafbc541946e2022-12-21T17:44:08ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Physics2296-424X2015-04-01310.3389/fphy.2015.00024134981Silica hollow core microstructured fibers for beam delivery in industrial and medical applicationsJonathan Dale Shephard0Artur eUrich1Richard M Carter2Piotr eJaworski3Robert R J Maier4Walter eBelardi5Fei eYu6William eWadsworth7Jonathan C Knight8Duncan P Hand9Heriot-Watt UniversityHeriot-Watt UniversityHeriot-Watt UniversityHeriot-Watt UniversityHeriot-Watt UniversityUniversity of BathUniversity of BathUniversity of BathUniversity of BathHeriot-Watt UniversityThe focus of this review is our recent work to develop microstructured hollow core fibers for two applications where the flexible delivery of a single mode beam is desired. Also, a review of other fiber based solutions is included.High power, short-pulsed lasers are widely used for micro-machining, providing high precision and high quality. However, the lack of truly flexible beam delivery systems limits their application to the processing of relatively small planar components. To address this, we developed hollow-core optical fibers for the 1 μm and green wavelength ranges. The hollow core overcomes the power delivery limitations of conventional silica fibers arising from nonlinear effects and material damage in the solid core. We have characterized such fibers in terms of power handling capability, damage threshold, bend loss and dispersion, and practically demonstrated delivery of high peak power pulses from the nanosecond to the femtosecond regime. Such fibers are ideal candidates for industrial laser machining applications.In laser surgical applications, meanwhile, an Er:YAG laser (2.94 μm) is frequently the laser of choice because the water contained in tissue strongly absorbs this wavelength. If this laser beam is precisely delivered damage to surrounding tissue can be minimized. A common delivery method of surgical lasers, for use in the operating theatre, is articulated arms that are bulky, cumbersome and unsuitable for endoscopic procedures. To address this need for flexible mid-IR delivery we developed silica based hollow core fibers. By minimizing the overlap of the light with glass it is possible to overcome the material absorption limits of silica and achieve low attenuation. Additionally, it is possible to deliver pulse energies suitable for the ablation of both hard and soft tissue even with very small bend radii. The flexibility and small physical size of systems based on these fibers will enable new minimally invasive surgical procedures.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphy.2015.00024/fullMicrostructured fibers1hollow core fibers2beam delivery3industrial lasers4medical lasers5. |
| spellingShingle | Jonathan Dale Shephard Artur eUrich Richard M Carter Piotr eJaworski Robert R J Maier Walter eBelardi Fei eYu William eWadsworth Jonathan C Knight Duncan P Hand Silica hollow core microstructured fibers for beam delivery in industrial and medical applications Frontiers in Physics Microstructured fibers1 hollow core fibers2 beam delivery3 industrial lasers4 medical lasers5. |
| title | Silica hollow core microstructured fibers for beam delivery in industrial and medical applications |
| title_full | Silica hollow core microstructured fibers for beam delivery in industrial and medical applications |
| title_fullStr | Silica hollow core microstructured fibers for beam delivery in industrial and medical applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Silica hollow core microstructured fibers for beam delivery in industrial and medical applications |
| title_short | Silica hollow core microstructured fibers for beam delivery in industrial and medical applications |
| title_sort | silica hollow core microstructured fibers for beam delivery in industrial and medical applications |
| topic | Microstructured fibers1 hollow core fibers2 beam delivery3 industrial lasers4 medical lasers5. |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fphy.2015.00024/full |
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