Fiber Lasers and Their Medical Applications

Abstract

Advancing of photonics, aided with fruitful and abundant experimental and theoretical studies, over the last four decades has brought about the invention of a large variety of lasers. Among them one of the most popular types is a fiber laser, which is a variation of the standard solid-state laser, with the medium being a clad fiber waveguide structure and different dopants inside core serve as a gain media. They were derived from erbiumdoped fiber amplifiers, which are still important component for telecommunications. Since discovery, fiber laser has become a natural choice for many uses, primarily because of the physical characteristics of fiber waveguide structure. Their rapid progress may show how excellent they really are. Although fiber lasers are today widely used in various research and industrial areas, one of the most meaningful applications of fiber laser technology has been through its use in medicine. A wide variety of wavelengths generated by fiber lasers as well as the diversity of physical mechanisms employed in pulse generation also additionally underpins the flexibility of fiber laser technology. This study is devoted to background technology of fiber lasers in the light of medical applications. Basic physics and theories of optical fibers and their important properties are introduced.

Overview on the Evolution of Laser Welding of Vascular and Nervous Tissues

“…Therefore, the development of fiber lasers is of great importance to the laser-welding technique, mostly due to their advantages, such as excellent heat dissipation, beam quality, and efficiency [79,80]. Because of their diversified operating modes, wavelengths, and energy levels, different fiber lasers, such as erbium-, thulium-, holmium-, and ytterbium-doped families, can be used, for example, in microsurgeries of soft tissues [80,81]. The effect of these lasers in soft tissues can range from ablative purposes to regenerative procedures like laser welding [82].…”

“…The effect of these lasers in soft tissues can range from ablative purposes to regenerative procedures like laser welding [82]. In terms of medical applications, various studies have proven their suitability for photodynamic therapies, biomedical sensing, as well as for other procedures in the vascular and dentistry fields [81,83,84].…”

Linewidth Narrowing of a Dual Wavelength-Selectable, Ring Cavity Erbium-Doped Fiber Laser Using a Saturable Absorber

“…Medical procedures [5]: EDFLs are used in a variety of medical procedures, such as ophthalmology, dermatology, and surgery. In these applications, the narrow linewidth of EDFLs is important for precise targeting and manipulation of biological tissues.…”

Triple‐wavelength Q‐switched ytterbium‐doped fiber laser based on tungsten oxide as saturable absorber

“…Investment in multiwavelength Q‐switched ytterbium‐doped fiber lasers (YDFL) has drawn much interest in recent years owing to their numerous applications in sensing, communication, spectroscopy, and laser therapy . The remarkable progress in fiber lasers, especially in 1 μm region, has led to a technological shift from solid‐state lasers such as Nd‐YAG to Yb‐doped fiber (YDF) laser . YDFLs have low quantum defect, high optical efficiency, wide emission bandwidth, and the possibility of power scaling to watt or kilowatt level .…”