Abstract
Ablation of biological tissues by intense UV or visible laser pulses is utilized in numerous applications in medicine. Evaluation of the mechanisms involved in the ablation process is essential for the determination of optimal irradiation conditions for precise and effective removal of diseased tissues with minimal injury to adjacent normal tissues. In contrast to a long laser pulse (10-5 to 1 sec) ablation of soft tissues, which is driven by the thermal evaporation and explosion, the short-pulse laser ablation (10-9-10-7 sec) proceeds at temperatures below 100°C. The major paradox of the short-pulse laser ablation is the contradiction of two experimental facts: (1) the dominant channel of laser energy transformation in water-containing tissues is heat generation and the probability of photochemical splitting of biopolymer bonds is several orders of magnitude lower (even in the UV spectral range) than required for ablation, and (2) laser energy density deposited in tissues at the threshold of ablation is much lower than the enthalpy of vaporisation per unit volume and the temperature of ablation is much lower than the boiling point of water.1
© 1993 Optical Society of America
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