There is provided a process for treatment of rhinitis by diode laser ablation of the posterior nasal nerves. The laser diode delivery device with elongated optic tip is inserted through a patient's nostril and has the length, flexibility and a curvature to reach both above and under the patient's middle turbinate for treatment to both posterior nasal nerves. Skin and tissue temperature is raised to approximately 60-65° C. with the process. Optimal treatment wavelength was found to be approximately 940 nanometers.

A laser therapeutic apparatus includes a laser and a therapeutic optical fiber. The therapeutic optical fiber is configured for being implanted into a body of a patient during surgery to perform a repair treatment on a spinal cord site to-be-treated by irradiation and then being removed from the body of the patient after the surgery. The therapeutic optical fiber includes N number of laser fibers, N−1 number of optical fiber connection components, an optical fiber guiding structure, and an optical fiber controller; the N number of laser fibers are coupled with one another by the N−1 number of optical fiber connection components to form a cascaded optical fiber structure, an end of the cascaded optical fiber structure is coupled to the optical fiber guiding structure, and another end of the cascaded optical fiber structure is coupled to the optical fiber controller.

An apparatus is provided for irradiating at least a portion of a patient's brain with electromagnetic radiation to treat stroke, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, or depression. The apparatus includes a source of the electromagnetic radiation. The apparatus further includes an output optical element including a rigid and substantially thermally conductive material and a surface configured to be in thermal communication with the patient's body. The apparatus further includes a cooler thermally coupled to the output optical element to remove heat from the output optical element. The apparatus further includes a heat sink thermally coupled to the cooler, wherein the heat sink is positioned so that the electromagnetic radiation from the source propagates through the heat sink and through the output optical element.

A laser apparatus includes: one or more laser diodes and two or more optical combiners. Further, output sides of the one or more laser diodes are connected to an input side of one optical combiner among the two or more optical combiners, and an output side of the one optical combiner is connected to an input side of an optical combiner other than the one optical combiner.

An optical fiber state detection system includes: a first light source that outputs a monitor-related light for monitoring a state of an optical fiber; a reflection mechanism that reflects the monitor-related light propagated through the optical fiber; a light receiving part that receives a reflected light reflected by the reflection mechanism; a tap coupler provided between the reflection mechanism and both the first light source and the light receiving part such that the first light source and the light receiving part are connected the tap coupler; and a control part. Further, when the control part detects that a received optical power of the reflected light is greater than 0 and lower than a predetermined threshold value, the control part outputs information on a decrease in the received optical power to outside.

A surgical laser system includes an array of laser diodes that are configured to output laser energy, a fiber bundle, a delivery fiber, and a tubular sheath. The fiber bundle includes a plurality of optical fibers and has a proximal end that is configured to receive laser energy from the array of laser diodes. The delivery fiber includes a proximal end that is configured to receive laser energy from a distal end of the fiber bundle. The tubular sheath defines a lumen, in which at least a portion of the delivery fiber is disposed. The tubular sheath is insertable into a working channel of an endoscope or a cystoscope. A distal end of the tubular sheath is configured to deliver laser energy discharged from the delivery fiber into a body of a patient.

Systems and methods for creating multi-spot laser light beams, multiplexing an illumination light and the multi-spot laser light beams, and delivering the multiplexed light to a surgical handpiece via a multi-core optical fiber cable.

One described aspect is an optical fiber comprising: a fiber core that extends along a fiber axis, is configured to transmit a laser energy along the fiber axis, and terminates at a distal end; a first cladding that extends along the fiber axis, is adjacent to the fiber core, and terminates at a distal end; a coating that extends along the fiber axis and terminates at a distal end, wherein the coating is a gold coating; a second cladding that surrounds a portion of the gold coating along the fiber axis, and terminates at a distal end; an outer jacket that extends along the fiber axis and terminates at a distal end; and a fiber tip. Associated laser systems are also disclosed.

A tapered fiber optoacoustic emitter includes a nanosecond laser configured to emit laser pulses and an optic fiber. The optic fiber includes a tip configured to guide the laser pulses. The tip has a coating including a diffusion layer and a thermal expansion layer, wherein the diffusion layer includes epoxy and zinc oxide nanoparticles configured to diffuse the light while restricting localized heating. The thermal expansion layer includes carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) configured to convert the laser pulses to generate ultrasound. The frequency of the ultrasound is tuned with a thickness of the diffusion layer and a CNT concentration of the expansion layer.

A laser fiber apparatus and method for preparing the apparatus is described herein. An apparatus comprising a laser fiber having a proximal end, a distal end, a core, and a cladding. A lens at the distal end of the laser fiber is proximally elongated from bulbous in shape. The core of the laser fiber transmits laser energy from a laser source coupled to the proximal end through the lens. The cladding of the laser fiber also circumferentially coats at least the proximally elongated portion of the lens, and epoxy material circumferentially coats the cladding, a portion of the lens distal the cladding, and defines an aperture at the apex of the lens.