Abstract

In the last decade dye lasers, due to their tunability, have found increasing use in laser spectroscopy, photochemistry, photophysics, and photobiology. More recently a field of considerable interest in cancer treatment and diagnosis is the use of the argon laser-pumped dye laser (630 nm) in combination with a cancer tissue sensitizer. Nevertheless, there were very sparse reports^1,2 on the application of dye laser in ophthalmology. We describe in detail an application of a flashlamp-pumped dye laser in ophthalmic diseases. The dye laser was pumped by a newly designed coaxial flashlamp to achieve optimum dye laser performance over the broader wavelength range (450–620 nm) with good stability (1.2%) and reliability. The maximum output is 700 mJ with a conversion efficiency of 0.8 %. Thus it makes this laser capable of treating different kinds of eye disease and studying the laser wavelength dependence of biological effect on eye structure in similar conditions (same puise duration and same power density).

© 1986 Optical Society of America