Laser ablation and high precision patterning of biomaterials and intraocular lenses

A. A. Serafetinides; E. Spyratou; M. Makropoulou

doi:10.1117/12.882844

17 January 2011 Laser ablation and high precision patterning of biomaterials and intraocular lenses

A. A. Serafetinides, E. Spyratou, M. Makropoulou

Proceedings Volume 7747, 16th International School on Quantum Electronics: Laser Physics and Applications; 77470V (2011) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.882844
Event: XVI International School on Quantum Electronics: Laser Physics and Applications, 2010, Nessebar, Bulgaria

Abstract

The use of intraocular lenses (IOL) is the most promising method for restoring excellent vision in cataract surgery. In addition, multifocal intraocular lenses for good distant and near vision are investigated. Several new materials, techniques and patterns are studied for the formation and etching of intraocular lenses in order to improve their optical properties and reduce the diffractive aberrations. As pulsed laser ablation is well established as a universal tool for surface processing of organic polymer materials, this study was focused in using laser ablation with short and ultra short laser pulses for surface modification of PMMA and intraocular lenses, instead of using other conventional techniques. The main advantage of using very short laser pulses, e.g. of ns, ps or fs duration, is that heat diffusion into the polymer material is negligible. As a result high precision patterning of the sample, without thermal damage of the surroundings, becomes possible. In this study, laser ablation was performed using commercially available hydrophobic acrylic IOLs, hydrophilic acrylic IOLs, and PMMA IOLs, with various diopters. We investigated the ablation efficiency and the phenomenology of the etched patterns by testing the ablation rate, versus laser energy fluence, at several wavelengths and the surface modification with atomic force microscopy (AFM), or scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The irradiated polymers have different optical properties, at the applied wavelengths, and therefore, present different ablation behaviour and morphology of the laser ablated crater walls and surrounding surfaces. The experimental results, some theoretical assumptions for mathematical modeling of the relevant ablation mechanisms are discussed.

Citation Download Citation

A. A. Serafetinides, E. Spyratou, and M. Makropoulou "Laser ablation and high precision patterning of biomaterials and intraocular lenses", Proc. SPIE 7747, 16th International School on Quantum Electronics: Laser Physics and Applications, 77470V (17 January 2011); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.882844

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