Marketing Physics
The Myth of Photon Recycling
Photon recycling is basically an attempt to improve the efficiency of poorly designed devices. The small amount of energy provided by recycled photons can be achieved by simply turning the fluence of the device up just a few per cent. Additionally, photon recycling results in unwanted heat at the surface and almost no increase in the effectiveness at the intended target. This results in added discomfort and no increase in clinical efficacy. A best design practice for lasers and flashlamps is to reduce or eliminate this unwanted recycled light. A better choice is to increase the fluence a small amount,… Continue reading
DC-excited vs. RF-excited CO2 lases
Ultrapulse, Superpulse or chopped?
These are marketing terms. All modern medical CO2 lasers are pulsed by electronic gating, and all can run continuously (referred to as CW) for short time periods. Chopped is a historical term that refers to mechanically gating the laser beam with a mechanical shutter of that actually chopped the beam.
All modern lasers are electronically gated or chopped. In general RF-excited lasers are designed to operate at a CW fixed power level, (240w for the Ultrapulse), and are pulsed by gating their CW power level. DC-excited lasers are also pulsed by electronic gating, but have the ability for superpulse… Continue reading