Adaptive laser system for ophthalmic surgery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10130511-B2
Application number	US-201314034748-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2013
Priority date	Mar 25, 2011
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

An adaptive laser system for ophthalmic use is provided. In another aspect, a relatively inexpensive laser is employed. In another aspect of the present system, non-linear optical imaging uses multiphoton fluorescences and/or second harmonic generation, to create three-dimensional mapping of a portion of the eye in combination with automated feedback to assist with a surgical operation. In a further aspect of the present system, the patient interface uses laser induced markings or indicia to aid in focusing and/or calibration. Still another aspect employs temporal focusing of the laser beam pulse.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An ophthalmic surgical laser system comprising:
an ophthalmic laser emitting at least one unamplified laser pulse, each having a duration less than 150 fs with an output less than 2 μJ and a repetition rate greater than 0.5 MHz, the ophthalmic laser being one of: a direct diode pumped laser, and a Yb doped gain medium laser;
at least one optic changing a characteristic of the pulse between the ophthalmic laser and a target focal point;
the at least one optic further comprising at least one of:
(a) a pulse shaper which assists in correcting nonlinear spectral phase distortions in the pulse to reduce undesired bubbles otherwise created by surgical ophthalmical use of the pulse; and
(b) a diffraction optic for diffracting colors in the pulse, a collimating optic for collimating the colors in the pulse and a focusing optic focusing the colors in the pulse at the target focal point at a desired spectral focusing depth;

a programmable controller;
a detector connected to the programmable controller;
the at least one laser pulse scanning across a portion of an eye by a scanner and the detector collecting a nonlinear optical signal based on the laser pulse scan; and
the laser, detector and controller causing nonlinear optical imaging of the portion of the eye, instead of using optical coherent tomography, to create a three dimensional map to assist in guiding subsequent eye surgery tailored to the that specific eye using subsequent laser pulses.

2. The laser system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one optic is the diffraction, collimating and focusing optics, the diffraction optic is a grating and focusing optic is a curved mirror, further comprising a computer controlled actuator operably moving the mirror to vary the desired spectral focusing depth.

3. The laser system of claim 1 , further comprising an objective lens for focusing the pulse at the target focal point to create an indicating ophthalmic mark to aid in at least one of focusing and calibration during a subsequent ophthalmic procedure.

4. The laser system of claim 1 , further comprising a portion of an eye is cut by the pulse, the target focal point being located in or on the eye.

5. The laser system of claim 1 , wherein the ophthalmic laser is adapted to act on an eye for at least three operations selected from the following: refractive correction, cutting corneal flaps, treatment of macular degeneration, corneal grafting, phaco chopping, lens extraction, photo bleaching, presbiopia correction, and fundus imaging.

6. The laser system of claim 1 , further comprising at least a second ophthalmic laser emitting at least one unamplified laser pulse, each of the lasers having a duration less than 80 fs with an output less than 0.5 μJ and a repetition rate greater than 5 MHz, the lasers being of a modularized construction and mounted to a single ophthalmic surgical machine such that laser emission can be easily interchanged for one another almost instantaneously.

7. The laser system of claim 1 , further comprising a programmable controller using software which automatically measures nonlinear optical distortions in the laser pulse in less than one minute and compresses the pulses by pre-compensating dispersion.

8. The laser system of claim 1 , wherein the target focal point coincides with an eye lens which is cut in a contiguous pattern by the at least one laser pulse such that the eye lens is removable as a single piece and replaced by an intraocular lens.

9. The laser system of claim 1 , further comprising a nonlinear polarizer providing mode locking, and an intracavity spectral filter being associated with the laser.

10. The laser system of claim 1 , further comprising a compact free space oscillator producing pulses longer than 100 fs, followed by a fiber whose self-phase modulation causes sufficient bandwidth to compress the pulses to durations shorter than 50 fs.

11. The laser system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one optic includes a pulse shaper which causes each of the pulses to separate into a train of at least two pulses.

12. The laser system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one optic further comprises an objective lens having an aperture that is operable to limit a numerical aperture in order to change a length over which the laser alters tissue of an eye.

13. The laser system of claim 1 , wherein the laser is a sub-30 fs titanium:sapphire laser with a repetition rate greater than 1 MHz and a pulse energy less than 20 nJ.

14. The laser system of claim 1 , wherein a portion of the at least one pulse is reflected to a set of optics that replicates a dispersion of an objective, eye piece and eye, and provides real-time information about a quality of the at least one pulse being delivered to the eye.

15. The laser system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one pulse is transmitted through epithelial cells to selectively image and/or treat different layers of a macula lutea or ganglion cells.

16. An ophthalmic surgical laser system comprising:
an ophthalmic laser emitting at least one unamplified laser pulse, each having a duration less than 150 fs with an output less than 2 μJ and a repetition rate greater than 0.5 MHz, the ophthalmic laser being one of: a direct diode pumped laser, and a Yb doped gain medium laser;
at least one pulse shaper changing a characteristic of the pulse between the ophthalmic laser and a target focal point, the pulse shaper assisting in correcting nonlinear spectral phase distortions in the pulse to reduce undesired bubbles otherwise created by surgical ophthalmical use of the pulse, the pulse shaper controlling amplitude and phase characteristics of the pulse; and
a programmable controller varying the pulse shaper in an automated and real-time manner to optimize desired performance through varying a temporal characteristic of the pulse.

17. The laser system of claim 16 , further comprising:
a detector connected to the programmable controller;
the at least one laser pulse scanning across a portion of an eye and the detector collecting a nonlinear optical signal based on the laser pulse scan; and
the laser, detector and controller causing nonlinear optical imaging of the portion of the eye, instead of using optical coherent tomography, to create a three dimensional map to assist in guiding subsequent eye surgery tailored to the eye using subsequent laser pulses.

18. The laser system of claim 16 , further comprising an objective lens for focusing the pulse at the target focal point to create an indicating ophthalmic mark to aid in at least one of focusing and calibration during a subsequent ophthalmic procedure.

19. The laser system of claim 16 , further comprising a portion of an eye is cut by the pulse, the target focal point being located in or on the eye.

20. The laser system of claim 16 , wherein the ophthalmic laser is adapted to act on an eye for at least three operations selected from the following: refractive correction, cutting corneal flaps, treatment of macular degeneration, corneal grafting, phaco chopping, lens extraction, photo bleaching, presbiopia correction, and fundus imaging.

21. The laser system of claim 16 , wherein the programmable controller uses software to automatically measure nonlinear optical distortions in the laser pulse in less than one minute and compress the pulses by pre-compensating dispersion.

22. An ophthalmic surgical laser system comprising:
an ophthalmic laser emitting at least one unamplified laser pulse, each havin

Assignees

• Univ Michigan State

Inventors

• Dantus Marcos

Classifications

• H01S3/1618

  ytterbium · CPC title

• A61F2009/00863

  Retina · CPC title

• A61F9/00831

  Transplantation · CPC title

• A61F9/00836

  Flap cutting · CPC title

• H01S3/06733

  Fibre having more than one cladding · CPC title