Applications of ultrashort-pulse lasers for hard tissue surgery

Lasers are currently limited in their ability to remove hard tissue. Furthermore, many laser systems, such as the long pulse infrared lasers used to ablate bone or hard dental tissue, also generate unacceptable heat levels and cause collateral tissue damage. Ultrashort pulse lasers, however, are highly efficient, quiet and relatively free of damage. With recent development now allowing operation at high pulse repetition rates, ultrashort pulse systems can yield significant material volume removal which can potentially match or even exceed conventional technology while still maintaining the minimal collateral damage characteristics. In this paper, we report on preliminary studies of 350 fs pulse interactions with hard tissue and compare our results to the nanosecond ablation regime.

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