Other

American Laser Corporation

Laser Corp

William H McMahan

Kevin W Gordon

Steve H Holtman

The present invention provides a system for communicating information from a detachable appliance to a base unit so that the base unit can calibrate its operation to match the characteristics of the detachable appliance. The invention has particular benefits when used with medical lasers. A receptacle, mounted on the laser base unit, is provided for operatively receiving a plug on the appliance and transferring energy from the base unit to the detachable appliance. To convey information about the appliance from the appliance to the base unit, an information bearing surface is mounted on the plug and is oriented substantially perpendicularly to the external surface of the plug. The information bearing surface includes a plurality of information zones which are each machine readable and optically readable by the base unit. The base unit includes components for optically detecting and decoding the information embedded in the information zones when the plug is received by the receptacle. The structure of the present invention included on the appliance is reliable and does not appreciably increase the cost of the appliance and thus can be disposed of after a single use. Moreover, appliances provided with the present invention can still be used with base units which are not equipped in accordance with the present invention to detect the information presented on the appliance.

Fiber-optic plug and receptacle providing automatic appliance recognition

An apparatus and method for controlling the current delivered to a flash lamp is disclosed. The apparatus and method is particularly useful for controlling the current delivered to a flash lamp used in a laser and most particularly useful in connection with lasers used for medical procedures. The apparatus controls the length of the electrical pulse which is delivered to the flash lamp and also limits the current which passes through the flash lamp to that which is desired for optimized operation. A semiconductor switch electrically connects and disconnects the flash lamp from one or more capacitors for the desired length of time. The length of time can be automatically adjusted to provide the desired flash lamp output and thus the desired laser output. The switch provides substantially a square wave having a plateau voltage with very fast rise and fall times on both sides of the plateau so that a suitable square wave is formed. The semiconductor switch also limits the value of the current passing through the flash lamp to a substantially predetermined value so that the operation of the lamp is optimized.

Laser flash lamp control system

A laser delivery system which may be coupled to a stereomicroscope or camera equivalent, may be three dimensionally positioned such that a laser beam may irradiate a wide range of treatment sites from a variety of angles and distances, and where the laser beam may be positioned at an angle to the viewing axis and track along therewith. A laser delivery system including a filter/mirror system which allows only proper wavelengths to be transmitted.

Laser delivery system

A high speed switching power supply for a laser system is disclosed. In the preferred embodiment, proportional-plus-derivative feedback of the emitted light controls the duty cycle of the MOS-FET switching transistor to vary the d.c. voltage level applied across a storage capacitor from a d.c. power supply. The storage capacitor is connected across a laser tube to apply its stored voltage thereto. The MOS-FET transistor permits high speed switching. The derivative portion of the feedback damps out oscillatory tendencies in the feedback loop to permit increased loop bandwidth. The combination of the MOS-FET transistor and proportional-plus-derivative feedback permits the laser output to be controlled in a voltage-controlled mode.

High speed switching power supply for a light controlled laser system

A segmented ceramic tube for an argon-ion laser is fluid cooled and constructed to avoid shunting of current through the coolant.

Wet-jacket argon-ion laser

An argon-ion laser achieves low output power by using a plasma guide and mirror configuration which restricts lasing action to a portion of the resonator cavity at relatively high conversion efficiency.

Low power argon-ion gas laser

A laser system having an intermediate mode of laser beam operation wherein the laser beam is extinguished but the laser cathode continues to remain energized. The laser system includes an electronic circuit in which energy is stored while the laser beam is extinguished so that the laser beam can be substantially instantaneously re-ignited when the stored energy is released to the laser anode.

Laser system with standby mode

An improved bypass inhibitor attached to but not constituting part of the laser bore assembly of a ceramic gas laser tube having main and gas bypass bores comprises a ceramic disc, one side of which is both metal bonded to the tube and formed with metal surface channels to reduce bypass gas ignition without significantly inhibiting bypass gas passage therethrough.

Laser bypass inhibitor

A laser tube made of electrically insulating ceramic material, e.g., BeO, is formed of dry pressed and fired segments brazed together and with a chamfer or stepped area at the end of each segment adapted to interrupt the bore so as to prevent the establishment of a continuous electrically conducting layer in the tube bore.

Segmented ceramic bore laser

A means is provided for continuously purging deleterious contaminants including water vapor, ozone and organic vapors from the resonant cavity of lasers where the resonant cavity is characterized by a gap-space between the gain medium and the optical mirror at both ends of the cavity with each of the gap-spaces being disposed within an enclosed chamber where the contaminants tend to collect. This is accomplished by connecting the interiors of the gap-space chambers through tubular gas conduits with one or more canisters which contain a chemical desiccant or molecular sieve capable of removing the unwanted gases or vapors. A molecular sieve comprised of zeolite with the appropriate intermolecular spacing is especially preferred.

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Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America

William H McMahan