JPH0736062B2 - Laser light shutter device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser light shutter device for accurately aligning the optical axes of a laser light and a guide light in a medical device, a processing device and the like using a laser light. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a medical device, a processing device, etc. using a laser beam, prior to irradiation with the laser beam, first, a guide light is accurately matched to a treatment site, a processing position, etc.
Then, treatment or processing is performed by irradiating a laser beam, which is conventionally performed by the method shown in FIG. 10 or 11.

Of these, in FIG. 10, a shutter 8 consisting of a half mirror that reflects the laser light 1 and passes the guide light 2 is inserted on the optical axis. Guide light generator 3
The guide light 2 from the laser passes through the laser resonator 4 and the shutter 8 and illuminates a target position. At this time, the laser light 1 from the laser resonator 4 including the laser medium 5, the reflection side mirror 6, and the output side mirror 7 is reflected by the shutter 8 to change its course and is absorbed by the laser light absorber 9. Correct positioning is performed in this state, and then the shutter 8 is moved from the optical axis to irradiate the target position with the laser beam 1 from the laser resonator 4 for treatment or processing.

In FIG. 11, the guide light 2 from the guide light generator 3a and the laser light 1 from the laser resonator 4 are blocked by a shutter 8 and scattered light is absorbed by a scattered light absorber 10.
Suppress with. At this time, the half mirror 11 is provided on the optical axis on the output side of the shutter 8 so that the laser light 1 of the separately provided guide light generator 3b is superposed on the optical axis. Then, after accurately aligning with the guide light 2, the shutter 8, the scattered light absorber 10, and the half mirror 11 are moved from the optical axis to irradiate the laser light 1 from the laser resonator 4 to a target position. Then, it is treated and processed.

[0005]

As shown in FIG. 10, when the guide light generator 3 is located on the reflection side mirror 6 side of the laser resonator 4, it is located on the output side mirror 7 side of the laser resonator 4.
By providing a shutter 8 such as a half mirror,
It is necessary to change the course of the laser light 1 so that the laser light absorber 9 absorbs or scatters it. Further, the irradiation position of the guide light 2 by the shutter 8 and the shutter 8
There is a problem in that the irradiation position of the guide light 2 when the lens is removed is displaced and accurate alignment cannot be performed.

As shown in FIG. 11, a laser light axis adjusting guide light generator 3a is provided on the reflection side mirror 6 side of the laser resonator 4.
And the output side mirror 7 of the laser resonator 4
The manipulator adjustment guide light generator 3b was also provided on the side, and its optical axis had to be superposed on the laser light 1 by a half mirror 11 or the like, and a mechanical shutter 8 had to be additionally provided. Moreover, the shutter 8 and the scattered light absorber 1
Since 0 and the half mirror 11 must be moved integrally, it was extremely troublesome to obtain accuracy.

A first object of the present invention is to obtain a device capable of accurately matching laser light and guide light with a simple device. The second object of the present invention is to
When the laser light is unnecessary, the laser light and the guide light are separated by a simple device, and the separated laser light is dimmed safely.

[0008]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a laser beam irradiating device for irradiating a laser beam and a guide beam with their optical axes aligned with each other. And a drive device for moving the guide light linearly, and a drive device for moving the light guide device between the optical axis and the outside of the optical axis. It is a characteristic laser light shutter device.

[0009]

When the dimmer is positioned on the optical axis by the driving device, the guide light and the laser light from the guide light generator and the laser resonator enter the dimmer, and the laser light is gradually dimmed by the dimmer. Being a little energy,
Moreover, the laser light coincides with the optical axis. This laser light is reflected with the guide light, or when the filter is inserted, the laser light is reflected and only the guide light passes. Then, after the irradiation position is accurately set by the guide light prior to the laser light, the driving device moves the dimming device from the optical axis to irradiate the laser light from the laser resonator.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIGS. 1 and 2, 3 is a guide light generator, and 4 is a laser resonator, as in the conventional case. On the optical axes of the guide light generator 3 and the laser resonator 4, a dimming device 20 and a filter 21 are connected by a connecting body 22,
It is movably provided by a drive device 23.

The dimming device 20 has a cylindrical body 24, which is made of aluminum or the like, in a cylindrical body 24 in which one end is fully opened, the other end is formed with a diaphragm hole 27 at the center point, and a thread groove is cut on the inner surface. A plurality of first dimming tubes 25a, second dimming tubes 25b, and third dimming tubes 25c are fitted and held by a support ring 26. The inner and outer surfaces of the inclined surfaces of the first dimming tube 25a, the second dimming tube 25b, and the third dimming tube 25c, and the support ring 26.
An absorption plate for absorbing laser light is attached to the inner surface of the. Here, for example, when the laser beam 1 from the laser resonator 4 is 6 mm × 20 mm as shown in FIG. 3, the aperture hole 27, the first dimming tube 25a, the second dimming tube 25b, and the third dimming tube. 25c, the diameter of the support ring 26 is 4mm, 8 respectively
mm, 12 mm, 16 mm, 22 mm. The dimming tube is
The number is not limited to a plurality, and one may be provided as long as it has a dimming effect.

In the filter 21, one end is fully opened, the other end is opened with a central hole 29 at a center point, and a laser reflection mirror 30 is provided in a filter case 28 having a thread groove formed on the inner surface.
Is fitted and held by a mirror support disk 31 having a small hole in the center. The laser reflection mirror 30
Has a characteristic that allows the guide light 2 to pass through but does not allow the laser light 1 to pass through.

A substantially central portion of the connecting body 22 is rotatably supported by a rotation fulcrum shaft 32 provided in the drive unit 23, and a spacer 33 is attached to a plunger 33 which moves forward and backward by a solenoid of the drive unit 23. A drive shaft 35 connected via 34 is engaged with an elongated hole 36 of the connecting body 22 slightly apart from the rotation fulcrum shaft 32.

In the above structure, the laser light 1
Precise positioning is performed with the guide light 2 prior to the irradiation of. To this end, the plunger 33 of the driving device 23 is lowered to align the light attenuating device 20 and the filter 21 with the optical axis as shown in FIG. In this state, the guide light 2 and the laser light 1 are emitted from the guide light generator 3 and the laser resonator 4, respectively. The guide light 2 is a thin light beam that coincides with the optical axis, and passes through the laser resonator 4 and the dimming device 20 as it is and reaches the filter 21. Here, since the laser reflection mirror 30 of the filter 21 has a characteristic of reflecting the laser light 1 but allowing the guide light 2 to pass through, the laser reflection mirror 30 coincides with the optical axis and reaches the irradiation site.

Further, assuming that the laser beam 1 from the laser resonator 4 has a predetermined width, for example, 6 mm × 20 mm, it is incident on the dimmer 20 and the diameter of the laser beam 1 is first adjusted by the third dimmer tube 25c.
Only 6 mm passes through, and the outside part is the third dimming tube 25.
The diffuse reflection is repeated between the inclined surface of c and the inner surface of the support ring 26 to attenuate the light. Similarly, only the diameter of 12 mm passes through the second dimming tube 25b, and the first dimming tube 2
Only the diameter of 8 mm is passed by 5a, and eventually the diameter of the aperture 27 is reduced to 4 mm. This 4mm laser light 1
When reaching the filter 21, it is reflected by the laser reflection mirror 30 and cannot pass through the filter 21. The laser light 1 reflected by the laser reflection mirror 30 enters the light attenuator 20 again, is scattered between the absorption plates, and is dimmed. Therefore, the guide light 2 that has passed through the filter 21 accurately positions the laser light 1 prior to the irradiation thereof.

After the accurate positioning, when the plunger 33 of the drive device 23 is raised, the drive shaft 35 is also raised via the spacer 34, and the drive shaft 35 slides in the long hole 36 to move the connecting body 22. , Rotate in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 1 to a position like the chain line. In this state, the guide light 2 of the guide light generator 3 and the laser resonator 4 and the laser light 1 travel along the optical axis and irradiate the target position.

In the above embodiment, the dimmer 20 has a cylindrical shape, but the invention is not limited to this, and it may have a rectangular tube shape as shown in FIG. In this case, the respective entrances of the first dimming barrel 25a, the second dimming barrel 25b, the third dimming barrel 25c, and the fourth dimming barrel 25d are, for example, 4 mm × 8.
mm, 8 mm × 10 mm, 12 mm × 12 mm, 16 mm × 14 mm.

In the above-described embodiment, the light attenuator 20 and the filter 21 are provided separately from each other, but as shown in FIG. 5, the filter case 28 of the filter 21 is provided at the rear part of the cylindrical body 24 constituting the light attenuator 20. Is integrally provided, and the laser light 1 that has passed through the diaphragm hole 27 of the dimmer 20 is reflected by the laser reflection mirror 3
You may make it reflect immediately at 0.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the laser light 1 reflected by the laser reflection mirror 30 of the filter 21 is dimmed by the light attenuator 20, but the invention is not limited to this, and the reflected laser light 1 is positive. In order to reduce the intensity of the reflected light, as shown in FIG. 6, in the rear portion of the dimmer 20, a reflected light first dimming tube 38a, a second dimming tube 38b, and a support ring 39 are provided. The device 37 may be integrally provided. In this case, in order to more effectively reduce the laser light 1 reflected by the laser reflection mirror 30 of the filter 21, it is desirable that the laser reflection mirror 30 be a convex mirror, as shown in FIG. 7. However, the laser reflection mirror 30 of the filter 21 needs to have the same optical axis and spot shape of the guide light 2 on the incident side and the emitting side.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, since the dimming device 20 and the filter 21 are separated from each other, they are connected by the connecting member 22, but the present invention is not limited to this case. For example,
As shown in FIG. 5, when the filter 21 is integrally housed inside the tubular body 24 of the light attenuating device 20, as shown in FIG.
And, as shown in FIG. 9, the arm 4 fixed to the tubular body 24.
0 is rotatably attached to the rotary shaft 41. In this case, the rotation direction is in the same plane as the optical axis in the example of FIG. 1, but may be in the plane orthogonal to the optical axis in the examples of FIGS. 8 and 9.

[0021]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the laser light and the guide light can be separated by a simple structure, and nothing is inserted on the optical axis when the laser light is irradiated. There is no adverse effect such as deviation of the optical axis or reduction of output. Further, the laser light separated from the guide light enters the light reduction device, and the laser light is scattered and attenuated inside the light reduction device, so that the laser light does not leak to other parts and is safe.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a first embodiment of a laser light shutter device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view in which a part of FIG. 1 is cut away.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the dimmer.

FIG. 4 is a side view of another embodiment of the dimming device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view in which a light reduction device and a filter are integrally connected.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a partially cutaway plan view showing another embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a front view of FIG. 8. FIG.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional laser light shutter device.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of another conventional laser light shutter device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Laser light, 2 ... Guide light, 3 ... Guide light generator,
3a ... Guide light generator for adjusting laser optical axis, 3b ... Guide light generator for adjusting manipulator, 4 ... Laser resonator, 5 ... Laser medium, 6 ... Reflecting side mirror, 7 ... Output side mirror, 8 ... Shutter, 9 ... Laser light absorber, 10
... scattered light absorber, 11 ... half mirror, 20 ... dimming device, 21 ... filter, 22 ... connector, 23 ... driving device,
24 ... Cylindrical body, 25a, 25b, 25c, 25d ... Dimming cylinder, 26 ... Support ring, 27 ... Aperture hole, 28 ... Filter case, 29 ... Center hole, 30 ... Laser reflection mirror, 3
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Mirror support disk, 32 ... Rotation fulcrum shaft, 33 ... Plunger, 34 ... Spacer, 35 ... Drive shaft, 36 ... Oblong hole,
37 ... Attenuator for reflected light, 38a, 38b ... Attenuator for reflected light, 39 ... Support ring, 40 ... Arm, 41 ... Rotating shaft.

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Katsuhiko Sato 1 126-1, Nomachi, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture Hamamatsu Photonics Co., Ltd. JP, A) Actually developed 60-4945 (JP, U)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A laser beam irradiating device for irradiating a laser beam and a guide beam with their optical axes aligned with each other, wherein the laser beam is left extinct while leaving the optical axis portion thereof,
Further, it is provided with a light reducing device for linearly passing the guide light, and a driving device for moving the light reducing device between the optical axis and the outside of the optical axis. A shutter device for laser light. 2. A filter is provided on the optical axis, which reflects the laser light attenuated by the dimming device and allows the guide light to pass through, and is provided so as to be movable integrally with the dimming device. The shutter device for laser light according to claim 1. 3. A shutter device for a laser beam according to claim 2, further comprising a dimming device for reflected light for dimming the laser beam reflected by the filter. 4. The laser light shutter device according to claim 2, wherein the drive device is configured to change the positions of the light attenuator and the filter between on-axis and off-axis.