Hollow-glass waveguide delivery of an infrared free-electron laser for microsurgical applications

The purpose of this research is to deliver free-electron-laser (FEL) pulses for intraocular microsurgery. The FEL at Vanderbilt University is tunable from 1.8 to 10.8 mum. To deliver the FEL beam we used a metallic-coated hollow-glass waveguide of 530-mum inner diameter. A 20-gauge cannula with a miniature CaF(2) window shielded the waveguide from water. Open-sky retinotomy was performed on cadaver eyes. The system delivered as much as 6 x 10(5) W of FEL peak power to the intraocular tissues without damage to the waveguide or to the surgical probe.