JPS60250308A - Laser fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make an emitted laser light have an expanse so that a laser light can be irradiated extending over a wide range by forming a light emitting end face of an optical fiber to a convex surface or a concave surface. CONSTITUTION:A light emitting end face 1a of an optical fiber 1 is formed to a convex shape (a concave shape will do). In this way, a laser light emitted from the end face is made to have an expanse.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a laser fiber that performs medical treatment by emitting laser light from the tip of the optical fiber.

Laser fibers are well-known for performing various treatments by emitting laser beams from the tip of the optical fiber, but in conventional laser fibers, the light emitting end surface of the optical fiber is processed into a flat surface, and the light emitting end surface is processed to be flat. The emitted laser light hardly spread, and the laser light could only be irradiated onto a very narrow area of the affected area. Therefore, when treating a large area of the affected area, the irradiation position must be changed and irradiated multiple times, which takes time, and some areas are irradiated and some are not, resulting in the entire affected area being treated. There were inconveniences such as the inability to irradiate uniformly.

The present invention was made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and
In particular, the purpose of this invention is to provide a laser fiber in which the laser light emitted from the end of the optical fiber has a certain degree of spread so that the laser light can be irradiated over a relatively wide range.

Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram for explaining an embodiment of a laser fiber to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is an optical fiber, 2 is a pipe through which the optical fiber is inserted,
Reference numeral 3 denotes a probe for protecting the tip of the optical fiber 1, and as is well known, laser light is emitted from the end face 1a of the optical fiber 1 to perform various treatments. In the conventional laser fiber, the light emitting end face 1a of the optical fiber 1 is processed into a flat surface, and therefore, as mentioned above, the laser light emitted from the light emitting end face has no spread, and the area is very narrow. The laser beam could only be irradiated to Of course, in the case of a large power, the conventional laser fibers mentioned above are sufficient, and in fact, most of the laser fibers currently in use have optical fibers whose light emitting end faces are flattened. However, when the affected area is large, it is more efficient to irradiate as wide an area as possible in one irradiation, and the entire area can be irradiated uniformly. The present invention has been made from this point of view, and specifically, as shown in FIG. This is a laser beam that has a wider range. In the illustrated example, the light emitting end surface is convex outward, but may be concave inward as shown by the dotted line.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the light output end of the optical fiber. In this embodiment, as shown in the figure, the outer surface of the light output end of the optical fiber 1 is formed into a rough surface 1b. ,
In this way, since the laser beam is also emitted from the rough surface 1b, a relatively wide area can be irradiated with the laser beam emitted from the end of the optical fiber 1, as in the embodiment described above. It is easily understood that the same effect can be obtained by covering the optical fiber with a transparent member having a refractive index higher than that of the optical fiber instead of making the surface rough.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the laser light emitted from the optical fiber can be irradiated over a relatively wide area, so it can be used efficiently when treating a wide area of affected area. Moreover, the laser beam can be evenly irradiated.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional configuration diagram for explaining one embodiment of a laser fiber according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another example of an optical fiber used in implementing the present invention. 1° path optical fiber, 1a...light emitting end face, 1b...
・Rough surface, 2...protective pipe, 3...probe.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) A laser fiber for performing treatment by emitting laser light from the optical fiber, characterized in that the light emitting end surface of the optical fiber is made convex or concave. (2) A laser fiber for performing treatment by emitting laser light from the optical fiber, characterized in that a side surface of the tip of the optical fiber is a light emitting surface.