Properties of hollow bent output tips in CO₂ laser light delivery system

In order to change the output direction of laser light in a small operation space, two types of hollow bent output tips are proposed for medical laser light delivery system. One is the hollow fiber insert-type, which is of the minimum bending radius of 3 cm. The other type, based on a fixed-bent pyrex glass tube, is of the minimum bending radius of 2 mm. Both types of tips are inner-coated with a silver layer and a cyclic olefin polymer (COP) layer. Loss properties for CO₂ laser light are clarified for the insert-type tips with various bending angles and radii. For the fixed-bent tips, the losses are around 0.7 dB, which are almost not dependent on the bending angles and radii. Transmissions of the tips remain undamaged after 1-h-delivery of 5 W output CO₂ laser light. A nickel layer is coated on the outside wall of fixed-bent tips so as to increase the mechanical strength and lower the surface temperature. Characteristics of surface temperature distribution and time response were experimentally discussed. Transmission properties of pilot beams are also evaluated.