Flat-top beam for laser-stimulated pain

Ryan McCaughey; Valerie Nadeau; Mark Dickinson

doi:10.1117/12.587577

14 April 2005 Flat-top beam for laser-stimulated pain

Ryan McCaughey, Valerie Nadeau, Mark Dickinson

Proceedings Volume 5698, Thermal Treatment of Tissue: Energy Delivery and Assessment III; (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.587577
Event: SPIE BiOS, 2005, San Jose, CA, United States

Abstract

One of the main problems during laser stimulation in human pain research is the risk of tissue damage caused by excessive heating of the skin. This risk has been reduced by using a laser beam with a flattop (or superGaussian) intensity profile, instead of the conventional Gaussian beam. A finite difference approximation to the heat conduction equation has been applied to model the temperature distribution in skin as a result of irradiation by flattop and Gaussian profile CO2 laser beams. The model predicts that a 15 mm diameter, 15 W, 100 ms CO2 laser pulse with an order 6 superGaussian profile produces a maximum temperature 6 oC less than a Gaussian beam with the same energy density. A superGaussian profile was created by passing a Gaussian beam through a pair of zinc selenide aspheric lenses which refract the more intense central region of the beam towards the less intense periphery. The profiles of the lenses were determined by geometrical optics. In human pain trials the superGaussian beam required more power than the Gaussian beam to reach sensory and pain thresholds.

Citation Download Citation

Ryan McCaughey, Valerie Nadeau, and Mark Dickinson "Flat-top beam for laser-stimulated pain", Proc. SPIE 5698, Thermal Treatment of Tissue: Energy Delivery and Assessment III, (14 April 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.587577

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