Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
  • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
  • B23K26/02—Positioning or observing the workpiece, e.g. with respect to the point of impact; Aligning, aiming or focusing the laser beam
  • B23K26/06—Shaping the laser beam, e.g. by masks or multi-focusing
  • B23K26/073—Shaping the laser spot
  • B23K26/0736—Shaping the laser spot into an oval shape, e.g. elliptic shape
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F9/00—Methods or devices for treatment of the eyes; Devices for putting-in contact lenses; Devices to correct squinting; Apparatus to guide the blind; Protective devices for the eyes, carried on the body or in the hand
  • A61F9/007—Methods or devices for eye surgery
  • A61F9/008—Methods or devices for eye surgery using laser
  • A61F9/00825—Methods or devices for eye surgery using laser for photodisruption
  • A61F9/00827—Refractive correction, e.g. lenticle
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F9/00—Methods or devices for treatment of the eyes; Devices for putting-in contact lenses; Devices to correct squinting; Apparatus to guide the blind; Protective devices for the eyes, carried on the body or in the hand
  • A61F9/007—Methods or devices for eye surgery
  • A61F9/008—Methods or devices for eye surgery using laser
  • A61F9/00825—Methods or devices for eye surgery using laser for photodisruption
  • A61F9/00836—Flap cutting
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
  • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
  • B23K26/36—Removing material
  • B23K26/361—Removing material for deburring or mechanical trimming
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
  • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
  • B23K26/36—Removing material
  • B23K26/40—Removing material taking account of the properties of the material involved
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
  • B23K26/00—Working by laser beam, e.g. welding, cutting or boring
  • B23K26/50—Working by transmitting the laser beam through or within the workpiece
  • B23K26/55—Working by transmitting the laser beam through or within the workpiece for creating voids inside the workpiece, e.g. for forming flow passages or flow patterns
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F9/00—Methods or devices for treatment of the eyes; Devices for putting-in contact lenses; Devices to correct squinting; Apparatus to guide the blind; Protective devices for the eyes, carried on the body or in the hand
  • A61F9/007—Methods or devices for eye surgery
  • A61F9/008—Methods or devices for eye surgery using laser
  • A61F2009/00861—Methods or devices for eye surgery using laser adapted for treatment at a particular location
  • A61F2009/00872—Cornea
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61F—FILTERS IMPLANTABLE INTO BLOOD VESSELS; PROSTHESES; DEVICES PROVIDING PATENCY TO, OR PREVENTING COLLAPSING OF, TUBULAR STRUCTURES OF THE BODY, e.g. STENTS; ORTHOPAEDIC, NURSING OR CONTRACEPTIVE DEVICES; FOMENTATION; TREATMENT OR PROTECTION OF EYES OR EARS; BANDAGES, DRESSINGS OR ABSORBENT PADS; FIRST-AID KITS
  • A61F9/00—Methods or devices for treatment of the eyes; Devices for putting-in contact lenses; Devices to correct squinting; Apparatus to guide the blind; Protective devices for the eyes, carried on the body or in the hand
  • A61F9/007—Methods or devices for eye surgery
  • A61F9/008—Methods or devices for eye surgery using laser
  • A61F9/00825—Methods or devices for eye surgery using laser for photodisruption
  • A61F9/00827—Refractive correction, e.g. lenticle
  • A61F9/00829—Correction of higher orders
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
  • B23K2103/00—Materials to be soldered, welded or cut
  • B23K2103/30—Organic material
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
  • B23K2103/00—Materials to be soldered, welded or cut
  • B23K2103/30—Organic material
  • B23K2103/42—Plastics
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B23—MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • B23K—SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; WELDING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM
  • B23K2103/00—Materials to be soldered, welded or cut
  • B23K2103/50—Inorganic material, e.g. metals, not provided for in B23K2103/02 – B23K2103/26

Definitions

• Femtosecond laser microtome for laser cutting a slice of material, especially in a cornea
• the invention relates to a femtosecond laser microtome for cutting a slice of material in a block of material by means of a focused laser beam.
• the material may be a cornea of an eye or any other material in which it is possible to obtain cleavage by producing bubbles in focusing areas of the laser beam such as in certain plastics. It has applications in particular in the field of micro-machining parts including optical or in the field of the treatment of visual defects of the eye. In this latter application, it allows in particular the creation of a cavity in the eye compatible with intra-stromal surgery, corneal surgery, correction of myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism.
• the microtome is called a metal microkeratome. It allows to have a regular surface state that the ultraviolet laser can work.
• the microkeratome has the disadvantage of requiring a material contact with the cornea and therefore a possibility of infection.
• there remains a significant proportion of missed cuts due to variations in the corneal dimensional parameters from one patient to another.
• the second uses a femtosecond laser in the axis of the eye to cut a slice of cornea but the surface state obtained is not satisfactory because the cleavage zone obtained by Bubbles within the cornea are relatively thick and irregular and a postage patch tear is obtained at the interface between the hood and the cornea.
• the femtosecond laser has the advantage of not introducing any risk of infection because there is normally no material contact with the cornea during laser cutting. In practice, so far, it is preferred to use the metal microkeratome to obtain satisfactory results.
• LASIK LAser In Situ Keratomyleusis
• the first step of a LASIK is the cutting a corneal slice in the form of a superficial cover using a razor blade of a metal microkeratome. This cover must have a thickness of about 150 microns and a diameter of 7 to 9 mm, remains attached to the surface by a tissue hinge respected during cutting.
• the hood is reclined time to perform ablation of surface using an excimer ultraviolet laser.
• This laser emits ultraviolet radiation at 193 nm strongly absorbed at the surface of the cornea which is then volatilized.
• the corneal curvature is thus remodeled by selective and internal thinning of the corneal stroma.
• the hood is simply repositioned.
• the femto-LASER microkeratome uses a femtosecond laser beam that is focused with a focus at about 150 ⁇ m below the surface of the cornea and has an optical axis substantially parallel to that of the eye and therefore corresponds to a frontal application to the cornea of the cornea. the eye of the laser beam.
• the high intensity produced in the home produces a bubble of vaporized material that causes a local disruption of the cornea.
• a laser beam is focused with a law of deposition of energy which is largely anisotropic.
• the shape of the volume formed of points whose illumination is greater than half of the maximum illumination in the case of a Gaussian circular incident beam and of a focusing means with isotropic transfer function can be estimated at home.
• the transverse dimension of this volume is related to the "waist" w 0 (radius 1 / e 2 ) and is of the order of 1, 18 W 0 for the points at half height of the maximum illumination.
• this volume is an ellipsoid which is of revolution in the case of a symmetrical incident beam and an isotropic focusing means.
• w 0 is much greater than ⁇
• the ellipsoid will be very long longitudinally.
• a ratio of the order of 18 is obtained. It is therefore very difficult to obtain a good longitudinal resolution, that is to say in the direction of the optical axis of the incident beam and the cleavage zone is very high and very irregular.
• the solution for obtaining small longitudinal dimension bubbles is to use very open optics which complicate and increase the cost of the system and do not allow fields compatible with the LASIK application.
• the invention therefore takes advantage of the ellipsoid shape of the focusing zone, which corresponds substantially to the shape of the bubble created by a laser pulse, on the one hand having the smallest axis of the ellipsoid which determines the height of the zone. cleavage (hence a good accuracy) and the largest axis of the ellipsoid which is in the general plane of the cleavage zone (hence a greater rapidity of cleavage, the bubbles extending widely in said plane of the cleavage zone).
• the optical axis of the laser beam converging towards the focusing zone is arranged substantially laterally with respect to the slice of material to be produced, unlike conventional devices whose optical axis of the laser beam arrives perpendicularly. to the slice of matter.
• the term “slice” designates an extended flat element or not and of relatively low thickness uniform or not as appropriate.
• the invention relates to a femtosecond laser microtome for cutting by a focused laser beam of at least one slice of material in a block of material, the block having a front surface and the slice carrying said front surface, the slice extending to at least substantially in an X, Z plane perpendicular to a Y-axis of block thickness, the wafer being separated from the remainder of the block by a cleavage surface formed by the joining of a set of bubbles, each bubble being formed in a focusing zone of at least one pulse of the convergent laser beam of optical axis L.
• the optical axis L of the convergent portion of the laser beam forms an angle of between -45 ° and + 45 ° relative to the X, Z plane.
• the optical axis L of the beam forms an angle of between -10 ° and + 10 ° with respect to the X, Z plane and, preferably, the optical axis L of the beam is substantially in the X, Z plane,
• the focused laser beam is obtained by focussing an incident laser beam of illumination cross-section defined by a focusing means
• the illumination cross section is chosen from circular or elliptical shapes
• the illumination cross section is circular
• the illumination cross section is non-circular
• the focusing means comprises at least one lens
• the focusing means is a lens
• the focusing means is a set of lenses
• the optical transfer function of the focusing means is isotropic or anisotropic
• the focusing means comprises a dynamically addressable wavefront correction system
• the correction system comprises a means chosen from a deformable mirror, a mosaic of micro-mirrors or an optical liquid crystal valve,
• the focusing zone has an isoenergetic distribution of bubble formation according to an ellipsoid, the smallest dimension of said ellipsoid being in a direction substantially parallel to the axis Y,
• the ratio between the largest axis and the smallest axis of the ellipsoid is greater than 2 and, preferably greater than 10,
• the block of material is a cornea of an eye, the Y axis substantially corresponding to the optical axis of the eye,
• an adaptation piece in a material of optical index substantially equal to that of the cornea is disposed on and matches at least the frontal surface of the cornea, said piece having an entrance face for the convergent beam so that said beam convergent crosses elements having substantially the same optical index,
• the input face of the adaptation piece is plane and is such that the axis L of the convergent beam is substantially perpendicular to said input face
• the adapter piece compresses and deforms at least the cornea
• the space between the input face of the adaptation piece and the focusing means is totally or partially filled with a fluid of index substantially equal to that of the adapter piece or the focusing means; , the focusing zone can be moved along at least the two axes X, Z by actuators under computer control,
• the focusing zone is movable along the three axes X, Y, Z by actuators under computer control,
• the microtome further comprises means for location, in principle, in at least one axis, of the possible position of the bubble by detecting a point of focus of a light beam that does not produce a bubble,
• the microtome further comprises posterior location means in at least one axis, the position of the bubble by detecting the bubble plasma light.
• the invention therefore makes it possible, in the application to corneal surgery, to produce micro-cavities of very low thickness (height) in the eye and thus the production of a very small and therefore precise thickness of the cleavage zone.
• a focused laser beam whose optical axis is very far from the optical axis of the eye, the angle between the two axes being greater than 45 °. It is thus possible to make caps for LASIK treatment by cutting with a laser beam focused laterally to the cornea.
• the quality and accuracy of the cutting approach the anterior surface of the cornea and produce covers whose thickness can be less than 100 .mu.m.
• the invention also provides the possibility of making corrections of myopia without incision in the eye by producing macro-cavities by addition of bubbles in the cornea.
• This type of treatment is still called intra-stromal correction of myopia.
• the femtosecond laser has been proposed for an intra-stromal LASIK in order to cut inside the cornea a cavity whose collapse causes the variation of the curvature of the eye but the lack of precision of the traditional means frontal with optical axis parallel to the optical axis of the eye does not allow to obtain an accurate correction.
• Corneal cuts can also be made for the insertion of implants into the cornea. We can also be satisfied with localized cuts in order to correct residual optical aberrations.
• the invention also allows the micromachining of transparent materials, in particular for producing optical components or applied to micro-fluidics or micro-mechanics.
• the invention finally relates to an adaptation piece for the microtome according to one or more of the preceding characteristics and which is made of a plastic material of optical index substantially equal to that of the cornea and disposable.
• the adaptation piece may further comprise one or more of the previously listed characteristics relating to it.
• FIG. 1 which schematically represents the convergence of a laser beam in a reference frame X, Y, Z
• FIG. 2 which schematically represents in section a side view of the process of cutting a cover of material on the cornea of an eye
• Figure 3 which shows schematically in front view the process of cutting a cover of material on the cornea of an eye
• Figure 4 which schematically shows in section a side view of a variant of the process of cutting a cover of material on the cornea of an eye
• Figure 5 which shows schematically the implementation of the invention with means for retrocontrol a posteriori of the position of the created bubble.
• this cleavage zone may be higher or lower depending on the application, in particular of high height by stacking of bubbles in the case of producing a macro-cavity and in particular of low height by producing a single layer of bubbles in the case of a cut of a hood as in the following examples.
• a macro-cavity it is possible to cut a core (two layers of bubbles separated by the nucleus of corneal material) which will then be expelled from the eye by an incision.
• the shape of the nucleus can be lenticular (biconvex lens) in the case of the correction of the myopia or biconcave lens in the case of the correction of the hyperopia of revolution or not (if astigmatism to be corrected).
• the general shape of the cleavage zone is related to the general shape of the cornea, in particular because, in the case of cutting a hood that is circular, the latter has a substantially constant thickness.
• the shape of the cleavage zone will not necessarily be hemispherical but may be flat or have other types of shapes and shapes. in the case of making a wafer (detachable or not the object) its thickness may be constant or not.
• the focusing zone is ellipsoid. It is also possible to accentuate the eccentricity of the ellipsoid or to create other forms of focusing zones and therefore of bubbles using other forms of incident laser beam illumination.
• a laser beam whose transverse geometry is not circular. For example, by using an elliptical incident laser beam on the focusing means, a focal spot is obtained whose dimension is still very small in the direction of the optical axis of the eye (Y axis) and large in the other directions.
• an incident laser beam 1 schematized as substantially elliptical passes through a focusing means 2, for example a diopter or lens with an isotropic spatial transfer function, enabling it to be focused towards a focusing zone corresponding to the focus 4 of the optical element.
• a focusing means 2 for example a diopter or lens with an isotropic spatial transfer function, enabling it to be focused towards a focusing zone corresponding to the focus 4 of the optical element.
• the laser beam is convergent 3 and of optical axis L.
• the distribution curve of iso-illumination (or iso-energy) for a level of illumination given corresponding for example to the level of threshold illumination for the creation of a bubble (for example threshold of breakdown of the material)
• the optical axis L of the convergent laser beam 3 is also substantially in the plane Z, X in FIG.
• a laser pulse in the material will form a bubble whose shape will be close to an ellipsoid whose major axis will be in the plane Z, X. It is also understood that in the case of the realization of a hood on a cornea the slice of material forming the cover is substantially in a plane parallel to the Z, X plane and that the cleavage zone has a height along the Y axis as small as possible. Thus, not only the precision of the cut is obtained by the low height of the bubble corresponding to the small axis of the ellipsoid but the cutting efficiency is increased by the long length of the bubble corresponding to the major axis of the ellipsoid in the cleavage plane.
• the Y axis is substantially parallel to the optical axis of the eye and the Z plane
• X is substantially parallel to at least a portion the cleavage zone and hood so that the cleavage zone is as low as possible (corresponding to the small axis of the ellipsoid).
• the focusing zone is progressively shifted to produce a two-dimensional array of rows x columns of bubbles (in the case where one would like to obtain a cover for the LASIK application) or three-dimensional if we want to achieve a macro-cavity (application to the in-situ treatment of myopia for example).
• the displacement / trajectory of the focusing zone for producing this bubble matrix assembly is preferably starting with the production of bubbles in the portion farthest from the laser source and progressively approaching it so that the beam preferably converge passes through a portion of cornea not yet cleaved.
• the bubbles starting with a scan along the X axis for a position on Z given but distant distance from the source, then reduce the distance on Z of a step and make a new scan according to X the along the X axis, and repeat iteratively by gradually reducing the distance on Z as shown schematically in Figure 3.
• a macro-cavity we will make several scans at different positions along Y before decrementing the distance Z.
• Other scanning possibilities are possible but they lead to that part of the converging beam passes through a portion of the cornea already having bubbles such as scanning Z in each case starting at a distance far from the source and incremental displacement on X.
• the points will be made on a surface depending on the needs and for example for producing a substantially constant thickness cover of approximately 150 ⁇ m the cleavage zone 7 must substantially follow the shape of the outer surface of the cornea at least in its central part.
• the focusing zone is then located at about 150 microns below the surface of the cornea.
• the Z position is fixed by the position of the lens.
• the hood which is circular can have a diameter of 9 mm for example. In the case of a hood that has to be folded down, we finish the cut by a circular movement accompanied by a displacement along the Y axis to cut the edges of the hood.
• the focusing zone in order to cut a hood, it is possible to give the focusing zone a trajectory that follows the curvature of the cornea which may, in a variant, possibly be flattened by means of an adapter piece 8 whose index optic is close to or equal to that of the cornea as will be seen in relation with Figure 4.
• the position of the focus is modified using a device allowing electronic control and computer to move the lens, more generally the focusing means or any other optical means placed on the path beam and can act on the position of the focus, at least along the Z axis and, preferably on all axes in order to move the focus area throughout the X, Y, Z.
• An automatic feedback system a priori of the position of the focusing zone can also be implemented, either additional lighting is implemented in the path of the laser beam is that the power of the laser can be reduced to a level below the creation of bubbles and that an optical measuring device on the eye detects the position of the focussing zone (focus) thus illuminated by the additional illumination or the laser under low power and allows the comparing with an expected position and generating a possible correction signal to the device moving the position of the focus.
• the additional lighting may be an LED or another laser but power not allowing the creation of bubbles.
• additional lighting may allow the operator to see where the focus area is. We must take into account the possible difference between wavelengths of the laser and additional lighting and ensure that the optics used allow the same coincidence of focus for both wavelengths or that computer means take into account.
• the feedback can also be done a posteriori by detecting the position of the plasma created during the creation of a bubble along at least the Z axis and, preferably along the three axes as shown in Figure 5 which will be explained later.
• FIG. 4 shows a variant of the invention implementing an optical adaptation piece 8 which is in a material of optical index substantially equal to that of the cornea, that is to say an index of about 1, 33.
• This piece 8 is for example plastic optionally disposable because in contact with the eye 5.
• This piece 8 is disposed on the front part of the eye and marries at least the front surface of the cornea.
• the part has a lateral plane entry face for the converging beam 3 such that the L axis of said converging beam is substantially perpendicular thereto.
• the convergent beam passes through elements, piece and cornea, having substantially the same optical index which avoids or limits the effects of refraction.
• the part 8 is preferably integral with the equipment comprising the focusing means 2 which has an optical index of approximately 1.55 in order to be able to maintain stable dimensional and structural relationships between all the optical elements.
• the focusing means is here represented at a distance from the inlet face of the adaptation piece 8, between the two, an air gap is left, or, alternatively, a space filled with a gel or a optical adaptation liquid.
• the adaptation piece 8 comprises the focusing means, the input face of said piece 8 being shaped to focus the laser beam.
• the input face of the adapter part which is plane can be inclined with respect to the optical axis L of the convergent beam 3.
• the input face of the adaptation piece is not plane but has a curvature in order to modify the convergence of the convergent beam 3.
• the focusing means 2 may comprise more than one lens, in particular to improve the characteristics of the focal point and to guarantee a small extension along the Y axis in the whole of the XZ plane.
• External means for modifying the wavefront can be introduced on the path of the beam 1 1 in order to correct the geometrical aberrations of the focusing means 2.
• These means for modifying the wavefront can be in particular a deformable mirror, a mosaic of micro-mirrors or an optical liquid crystal valve.
• These means for modifying the wavefront are then dynamically activated in relation to the position of the focal point in the field of the lens by a computer means as a function of information previously stored on the geometric aberrations of said focusing means 2.
• the additional means shown in Figure 5 allow a retrospective identification of the position of the bubble that has just been created by detecting the light waves of the corresponding plasma.
• An adaptation piece 8 is disposed on the cornea and the laser beam 1 1 arrives laterally passing through a blade 10, the focusing means 2, a space 9 optionally filled with a fluid (including gel) optical adaptation and the lateral entry face of the part 8.
• the focusing means 2 is maintained in a stable relative position relative to the fitting part 8 by spacers and / or by a encapsulation also for confining the fluid in the space 9.
• the plasma light waves are firstly detected forward by a beam 17 focused in 15 to a first detector 16 preferably matrix on two dimensions and at least 2x2 .
• the light waves of the plasma are also detected by a second detector 14 preferably also matrix on two dimensions and at least 2x2, the corresponding beam 12 having been returned by the blade 10 and focused 13 on the second detector 14.
• a second detector 14 preferably also matrix on two dimensions and at least 2x2, the corresponding beam 12 having been returned by the blade 10 and focused 13 on the second detector 14.
• One or both detectors can be implemented.
• the first detector 16 alone may be sufficient for three-dimensional bubble position detection, the two-dimensional array sensor and focusing adjustment means of the focused image on the depth detector.
• the second detector 14 according to the same principle it is possible to obtain the position of the bubble in the three dimensions, but the axes given by the matrix sensor will be different from the first case because the observation is lateral rather than frontal.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
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• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
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• Ophthalmology & Optometry (AREA)
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  • 2005-11-04 FR FR0553345A patent/FR2892962B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2006
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  • 2006-11-03 WO PCT/FR2006/051136 patent/WO2007051951A2/fr active Application Filing
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