Femtosecond optical ranging of corneal incision depth

Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 1989 Jan;30(1):99-104.

Abstract

Excimer laser ablation has been proposed as a technique for keratorefractive surgery. Clinical acceptance of linear-incision laser keratectomy may depend on the availability of a method for accurately and noninvasively monitoring incision depth during the ablation process. We have developed a femto-second optical ranging technique for measurement of corneal incision depth. This technique uses nonlinear optical cross-correlation to determine the time-of-flight of an ultrashort laser pulse between the anterior corneal surface and the bottom of the keratectomy incision. Longitudinal and transverse resolution are estimated to be 5 micron and 10 micron, respectively.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cattle
  • Cornea / pathology
  • Cornea / surgery*
  • Cornea / ultrastructure
  • Laser Therapy*
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Optics and Photonics / instrumentation
  • Optics and Photonics / methods*
  • Time Factors