A laser system calibration method and system are provided. In some methods, a calibration plate may be used to calibrate a video camera of the laser system. The video camera pixel locations may be mapped to the physical space. A xy-scan device of the laser system may be calibrated by defining control parameters for actuating components of the xy-scan device to scan a beam to a series of locations. Optionally, the beam may be scanned to a series of locations on a fluorescent plate. The video camera may be used to capture reflected light from the fluorescent plate. The xy-scan device may then be calibrated by mapping the xy-scan device control parameters to physical locations. A desired z-depth focus may be determined by defining control parameters for focusing a beam to different depths. The video camera or a confocal detector may be used to detect the scanned depths.

A method for energy calibration of a pulsed cutting laser for eye surgery comprises irradiating a sample material with a plurality of sets of laser pulses of the cutting laser with pulse energies differing from set to set. This method also comprises analyzing at least one visually perceptible discoloration structure created in the sample material as a result of the irradiation, selecting the pulse energy of one of the sets based on the analysis, and setting a treatment pulse energy for the cutting laser based on the selected energy.

An ophthalmic system may comprise an imaging device having a field of view oriented toward the eye of the patient; a patient interface housing defining a passage therethrough, having a distal end coupled to one or more seals configured to be directly engaged with one or more surfaces of the eye of the patient, and wherein the proximal end is configured to be coupled to the patient workstation such that at least a portion of the field of view of the imaging device passes through the passage; and two or more registration fiducials coupled to the patient interface housing in a predetermined geometric configuration relative to the patient interface housing within the field of view of the imaging device such that they may be imaged by the imaging device in reference to predetermined geometric markers on the eye of the patient which may also be imaged by the imaging device.

A system for ophthalmic surgery on an eye includes: a pulsed laser which produces a treatment beam; an OCT imaging assembly capable of creating a continuous depth profile of the eye; an optical scanning system configured to position a focal zone of the treatment beam to a targeted location in three dimensions in one or more floaters in the posterior pole. The system also includes one or more controllers programmed to automatically scan tissues of the patient's eye with the imaging assembly; identify one or more boundaries of the one or more floaters based at least in part on the image data; iii. identify one or more treatment regions based upon the boundaries; and operate the optical scanning system with the pulsed laser to produce a treatment beam directed in a pattern based on the one or more treatment regions.

A compact system for performing laser ophthalmic surgery is disclosed. An embodiment of the system includes a mode-locked fiber oscillator-based ultra-short pulsed laser capable of producing laser pulses in the range of 1 nJ to 5 ?J at a pulse repetition rate of between 5 MHz and 25 MHz, a resonant optical scanner oscillating at a frequency of 200 Hz and 21000 Hz, a scan-line rotator, a movable XY-scan device, a z-scan device, and a controller configured to coordinate with the other components of the system to produce one or more desired incision patterns. The system also includes compact visualization optics for in-process monitoring using a beam-splitter inside the cone of a patient interface used to fixate the patient's eye during surgery. The system can be configured such that eye surgery is performed while the patient is either sitting upright, or lying on his or her back.

The present invention relates to an ophthalmic treatment apparatus and to a beam control method therefor. The ophthalmic treatment apparatus according to the present invention comprises: a beam generating unit for generating beams having different pulse energies; a bubble sensing unit for sensing whether or not bubbles have been generated, as well as the amount of generated bubbles, on the basis of the pulse energy of the beam generated by the beam generating unit and radiated onto the treatment region of an eyeball; and a control unit for controlling the operation of the beam generating unit such that the pulse energy of the beam generated by the beam generating unit can be adjusted in accordance with the signal from the bubble sensing unit.

An apparatus for ocular treatment according to the present invention comprises: a beam generation unit for generating a therapeutic beam; a beam transfer unit comprising a first lens part capable of forming an optical path through which the therapeutic beam oscillated from the beam generation unit travels in the ocular fundus, and of varying the focal length so that the beam is transferred in a predetermined spot size in the ocular fundus; and a control unit, connected to the beam transfer unit, for controlling the focal length of the therapeutic beam of the first lens part.

A laser apparatus for use in a surgical procedure is disclosed including a housing forming a part of a handpiece and including interior and exterior regions, a laser cavity extending within the interior region of the housing, at least a portion of an operating laser element positioned with the interior region of the housing for generating an operating beam, and a controller to control a focal position of the operating beam to a location above the plane of the tissue for ablation of the tissue by laser induced breakdown thereof.

Additive manufacturing techniques are used to form an artificial intra-ocular lens (IOL) directly inside the human eye. Small openings are formed in the cornea and lens capsule of the eye, and the crystalline lens is broken up and removed through the openings; then, a material is injected into the lens capsule through the openings, and the focal spot of a pulse laser beam is scanned in a defined pattern in the lens capsule, to transform the material in the vicinity of the lase focal spot to form the IOL in a layer-by-layer manner. In one embodiment, stereolithography techniques are used where a pulse UV laser source is used to photosolidify a photopolymer resin. The liquefied resin is injected into the eye through the openings, after which only part of the resin, having the shape of the desired IOL, is selectively cured with the UV laser beam, via progressive layer formation.

An ophthalmological patient interface apparatus (4), having a coupling apparatus (41) for mechanically coupling to an application head (3) of an ophthalmological laser system (10), comprises a lens-element system (44) which is arranged between the eye (2) and the application head (3) in the state coupled to the application head (3) during the treatment of an eye (2), said lens-element system being coupled into the beam path from the projection lens (30) to the eye (2). The lens-element system (44) is configured to image a first focal area (B) of the projection lens (30) disposed upstream of the lens-element system (44) in the beam path onto a second focal area (B*) in the eye (2) disposed downstream of the lens-element system (44) in the beam path, in such a way that a laser beam (L) focussed onto the first focal area (B) by the projection lens (30) causes tissue processing in the second focal area (B*) in the eye (2).