Combined Nd:YAG and Er:YAG lasers for real-time closed-loop tissue-specific laser osteotomy.

Authors :: Abbasi H
Beltrán Bernal LM
Hamidi A
Droneau A
Canbaz F
Guzman R
Jacques SL
Cattin PC
Zam A
Source :: Biomedical optics express [Biomed Opt Express] 2020 Mar 04; Vol. 11 (4), pp. 1790-1807. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Mar 04 (Print Publication: 2020).
Publication Year :: 2020
Abstract: A novel real-time and non-destructive method for differentiating soft from hard tissue in laser osteotomy has been introduced and tested in a closed-loop fashion. Two laser beams were combined: a low energy frequency-doubled nanosecond Nd:YAG for detecting the type of tissue, and a high energy microsecond Er:YAG for ablating bone. The working principle is based on adjusting the energy of the Nd:YAG laser until it is low enough to create a microplasma in the hard tissue only (different energies are required to create plasma in different tissue types). Analyzing the light emitted from the generated microplasma enables real-time feedback to a shutter that prevents the Er:YAG laser from ablating the soft tissue.<br />Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.<br /> (© 2020 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement.)

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