Ultrafast Fiber Lasers Smart Surgical Tool Development

Fiber-based ultrafast lasers, with their ability to athermally ablate organic and inorganic materials, offer the potential for deploying a surgical tool with micron resolution that does not impart collateral damage to areas adjoining a target. Further, ultrafast technology can be used to perform laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) of materials being ablated. This project proposes to develop a"smart scalpel"surgical platform that will integrate the precise ablation capabilities of sub-picosecond laser pulses with a real-time feedback of LIBS analysis, a synergy of tools that will greatly enhance a surgeon"s ability to perform multiple surgical techniques. Research, analyses, modeling, and experimental studies will be conducted in the following areas: ablation protocols for tissues and materials relevant to the ultrafast laser surgical tool, real-time spectroscopic materials differentiation techniques for smart scalpel control, histology of ablated samples to reveal effects of laser and materials interaction, and software algorithms for real-time discrimination of materials during surgical ablation. The option phase of the program will focus on developing rapid reconfiguration of the platform for optimal ablation of different materials and prototyping concepts for beam delivery and spectroscopic feedback signal collection for the surgical tool.