A system and apparatus for increasing the amplitude of accommodation and/or changing the refractive power and/or enabling the removal of the clear or cataractous lens material of a natural crystalline lens is provided. Generally, the system comprises a laser, optics for delivering the laser beam and a control system for delivering the laser beam to the lens in a particular pattern. There is further provided a range determining system for determining the shape and position of the lens with respect to the laser. There is yet further provided a method and system for delivering a laser beam in the lens of the eye in a predetermined shot pattern.

The invention relates to a treatment apparatus including a device for conditioning a LASER beam generated by a femtosecond laser, the conditioning device comprising an optical sweeping scanner (30) and a focusing optical system (40) downstream of the optical sweeping scanner (30), remarkable in that a pivoting mirror (32) of the optical sweeping scanner (30) is positioned between an object focal plane F.sub.object of the focusing optical system (40) and the focusing system (40).

A method of controlling an eye surgical laser is disclosed for the separation of a volume body with predefined posterior and anterior interfaces from a human/animal cornea. The method including controlling the laser with a control device, the laser being configured to emit pulsed laser pulses in a predefined pattern into the cornea. The posterior and anterior interfaces of the volume body are defined by the predefined pattern and are generated by an interaction of the individual laser pulses with the cornea through photodisruption. The control device controls the laser beam such that both interfaces are generated via a continuous, uninterrupted sequence of laser pulses. A treatment device is disclosed with at least one eye surgical laser for the separation of a predefined corneal volume with predefined interfaces of a human/animal eye by photodisruption and with at least one control device for the laser(s).

A method of refraction-correcting ophthalmic surgery in tissue of an eye after at least one previous ophthalmic surgery in the tissue, comprising accessing information on a pre-operative cut and defining a cut surface on the basis of the information on the pre-operative cut of the at least one previous ophthalmic surgery of the tissue of the eye.

Subsurface optical elements are formed within an ophthalmic lens using modulation of depth to which refractive index change inducing laser pulses are focused within the ophthalmic lens. A system for forming one or more subsurface optical structures within an ophthalmic lens comprises a control unit operatively coupled with a laser pulse source and a focusing assembly. The control unit is configured to control operation of the focusing assembly to sequentially focus each of the sequence of laser pulses onto a respective sub-volume of a sequence of sub-volumes of the ophthalmic lens. The sub-volumes of the sequence of sub-volumes have modulated depths within the ophthalmic lens and varying transverse locations within the ophthalmic lens.

Methods and systems wherein laser induced refractive index changes by focused femtosecond laser pulses in optical polymeric materials or optical tissues is performed to address various types of vision correction.

The present invention relates to a method for monitoring a functionality of an apparatus (100) for refractive surgery on an eye (2) using a laser beam (4). The method comprises a determination of at least one parameter of a preparation and/or implementation of a method for refractive surgery, wherein the preparation and/or the implementation of the method are carried out at least in part by the apparatus for refractive surgery using the laser beam (4). Further, the method comprises an analysis of the functionality of the apparatus (100) on the basis of the determined parameter of the preparation and/or the implementation of the method for refractive surgery. In this case, the at least one parameter characterizes one or more of the following properties of the preparation and/or implementation of the method for refractive surgery: a provision of the laser beam (4) by the apparatus (100); an effect on the eye (2) by the apparatus (100); an external influence on the preparation and/or the implementation of the method for refractive surgery from outside of the apparatus (100); and a suitability of the effect on the eye (2) by the laser beam (4) for the further method of the refractive surgery on the eye (2).

Moreover, the invention relates to a control unit (14) and an apparatus (100) for refractive surgery on an eye (2).

A planning device that generates control data for a treatment apparatus which produces at least one cut surface in the cornea by application of a laser device. The invention further relates to a treatment apparatus having a planning device of the aforementioned type. The invention further relates to a method for generating control data for this treatment apparatus, and also to a method for eye surgery, at least one cut surface being produced in the cornea by application of a treatment apparatus with a laser device. The planning device has a calculation application for defining corneal cut surfaces, including a lenticule cut and a cap cut, the incision being controlled by the control data such that mutually corresponding locations of the lenticule cut and cap cut are impinged by laser pulses at substantially the same time interval.

A treatment apparatus for operatively correcting myopia or hyperopia in an eye includes a laser device controlled by a control device and that separates the corneal tissue by applying a laser beam. The control device controls the laser device to emit the laser beam into the cornea such that a lenticule-shaped volume is isolated in the cornea. The control device, when controlling the laser device, predefines the lenticule-shaped volume such that the volume has a minimum thickness of between 5 and 50 μm. For myopia correction, the minimum thickness occurs on the edge of the volume, and for hyperopia correction the minimum thickness occurs in the region of the visual axis.

A device for isolating a lenticle in the cornea of an eye. The device includes: a laser beam source to emit pulsed laser radiation having a pulse frequency of 1.2 MHz to 10 MHz, a pulse energy of 1 nJ to 200 nJ and a wavelength penetrating the cornea; a beam-forming unit having beam optics with an image field and that bundles pulsed laser radiation into a focus located inside the image field, and which has a maximum diameter of less than 3 μm; a beam-deflection unit shifting the focus in the cornea and inside the image field, the focus moving along a path when the image field is resting; and a control unit to control the source and the beam-forming unit to isolate the lenticle by specifying the path. The lenticle is delimited by a cut surface which is curved with regard to a front surface of the cornea.