Abstract

Heart failure due to artery blockage is the top cause of depths in the world. Installation of cardiovascular coronary stents is an effective way of expanding the blood vessels and preventing deaths. The cost of the coronary stents is high. Most of the stents are cut by Nd:YAG lasers. In an effort to improve the cutting quality, we have investigated picosecond and femtosecond laser cutting techniques for various stent materials. This presentation shows the basic characteristics of laser interactions with stent materials and cutting performances.

© 2012 Optical Society of America