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Measurement of Er:YAG laser ablation plume dynamics

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Abstract

The dynamics of tissue ablation using an Er:YAG laser were studied using flash photography and optical pump-probe techniques. Both normal-spiking-mode and Q-switched Er:YAG laser radiation were used to study the ablation of skin and bone. Time-resolved photographs of the ablation plume were obtained using a microscope-mounted camera together with pulsed illumination from an excimer-pumped dye laser. The velocity of the plume front, obtained from the photographs, was approximately 1400 m/s. The same velocity was also measured using an optical pump-probe technique. Both techniques indicate that material removal occurred after the end of the 90-ns-long Q-switched laser pulse and that each micropulse in the normal-spiking-mode pulse train was capable of ablating and rapidly ejecting tissue.

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Author notes

  1. J. T. Walsh Jr.

    Present address: Biomedical Engineering Department, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, 60208-3107, Evanston IL

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wellman Laboratories of Photomedicine, Department of Dermatology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 02114, Boston, MA, USA

    J. T. Walsh Jr. & T. F. Deutsch

Authors
  1. J. T. Walsh Jr.
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  2. T. F. Deutsch
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Additional information

This work was supported in part by the SDIO-MFEL Program under contract # N00014-86-K-0117 and by the Arthur O. and Gullan M. Wellman Foundation

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Walsh, J.T., Deutsch, T.F. Measurement of Er:YAG laser ablation plume dynamics. Appl. Phys. B 52, 217–224 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00750954

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00750954

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