JPH05337128A - Laser therapy apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To maintain transmission efficiency of light in the initialization by positioning the tip of an optical fiber accurately in the mounting or exchanging of an optical fiber connector. CONSTITUTION:In a laser treating apparatus in which an optical fiber 3 is connected to a main body with connection members 7 and 8 to introduce a laser light L with the optical fiber 3 for treatment, a position adjusting means 6 is provided to adjust the positions of connection members 7 and 8, a light source 46 to irradiate an end face 36 of the optical fiber 3 with light and a detection means 42 to detect the reflected light RF from the end face 36 of the optical fiber 3. Then, a control section 24 is provided to bring in detection information from the detection means 42 to detect positional deviation of the optical fiber 3 and the positions of the connection means 7 and 8 are controlled by the position adjusting means 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a laser treatment apparatus for guiding a laser beam by an optical fiber and treating with the laser beam.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a laser treatment apparatus, laser light from a laser light source is applied to an irradiation target through an optical fiber. The optical fiber is detachably connected to the main body of the laser treatment apparatus through an optical fiber connector.

In such a connector, the tip of the optical fiber is positioned by, for example, abutting and fitting a connector plug and a receptacle, and adjusting the fine movement by a micrometer. That is, the tip of the optical fiber is adjusted with reference to one set of plug and receptacle.

[0004]

Therefore, when the combination of the plug and the receptacle at the time of adjustment is changed and the optical fiber is replaced, the positioning of the tip of the optical fiber is misaligned. As a countermeasure against this, conventionally, the generated deviation has been compensated by factors such as the core diameter of the optical fiber and the condensing diameter, the precision of the metal object has been further improved, and some deviation has been ignored.

Therefore, in the conventional positioning of the tip of the optical fiber, the optical transmission efficiency is deteriorated to some extent by exchanging the optical fiber, and on the other hand, the precision of the metal is strict, which leads to an increase in cost. If the light transmission efficiency becomes poor, accurate treatment cannot be performed with a desired laser output.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser treatment apparatus capable of accurately positioning the end face of an optical fiber when the optical fiber is mounted or exchanged, maintaining the light transmission efficiency at the time of initial setting, and performing accurate treatment. To do.

[0007]

According to the present invention, an optical fiber (3) is connected to a main body (5) by a connecting member (7, 8) and a laser beam (L) is guided by the optical fiber (3) for treatment. Connection member (7, 8) in the laser treatment apparatus for performing
Position adjusting means (6) for adjusting the position of the optical fiber, and a light source (4) for irradiating the end face (36) of the optical fiber (3) with light.
6), detection means (42) for detecting the reflected light (RF) from the end face (36) of the optical fiber (3), and the detection information from the detection means (42), and the optical fiber (3).
The gist of the laser treatment apparatus is characterized by including a control section (24) for detecting the positional deviation of the position and controlling the position of the connecting member (7, 8) by the position adjusting means (6).

[0008]

When the detecting means (42) detects the reflected light (RF) from the end face (36) of the optical fiber (3), the control section (24) controls the position adjusting means (6) to connect the connecting member (7). , 8) to adjust the position of the optical fiber (3).

[0009]

1 shows a preferred embodiment of the laser treatment apparatus according to the present invention.

The laser treatment device sends the laser light L of the laser light source 1 to the probe 4 through the mirror 2, the condenser lens 2a and the optical fiber 3 for the purpose of bruising or intraocular photocoagulation, for example. The irradiation site is irradiated with the laser light L.

A position adjusting means 6 is provided in the body 5 of the laser treatment apparatus, and an optical fiber connector 8 is detachably fixed to the position adjusting means 6 via a receptacle 7. The optical fiber connector 8 and the receptacle 7 constitute a connecting member.

The position adjusting means 6 includes a first table 10, a second table 12, motors 14 and 16, and two sets of rails 1.
8 and 20. The first table 10 is the second table 1
It is installed on top of No. 2 and when the motor 14 is driven, the first
The table 10 and the receptacle 7 can move in the X direction along the rails 18, 18. The second table 12 is provided on the base 22, and when the motor 16 is driven,
The first table 10, the receptacle 7, and the second table 12 are movable in the Y direction along the rails 20, 20. These motors 14 and 16 are, as shown in FIG.
It is driven by a command from the movement control device 55 of the control unit 24.

As shown in FIG. 2, the receptacle 7 has a first
It is fixed to the table 10. As an example, the receptacle 7 is provided with an internal thread 26. A male screw 28 is provided on the outer circumference of the optical fiber connector 8.
A female screw 26 is adapted to engage with 8. The optical fiber 3 includes a core portion 30, a clad portion 32, and a cover 34.
Consists of.

What is important is that the laser light L or the condenser lens 2 on the end face 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3 in the XY directions is used.
Positioning with respect to a. The end surface 36 of the core portion 30 is X
If it deviates in at least one of the direction and the Y direction, the entire output of the laser light L does not enter the end face 36 of the core portion 30.

It is important to position the end face 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3 in the optical axis direction of the laser light L. This is because if the end face 36 is not located at the position where the laser light L is condensed by the condenser lens 2a, the total output of the predetermined laser light L does not enter the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3 and the probe 4 of FIG. This causes a reduction in the output of the laser light L to the irradiation site.

A core portion 30 is provided near the first table 10.
A position detecting device 40 is provided for detecting the positional deviation of the end surface 36 in the XY directions. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the position detecting device 40 includes an area sensor 42 and a light projecting unit 44.
Have. The light projecting section 44 has, for example, three light sources 46. The light source 46 is, for example, a light emitting diode. The light from the light source 46 is a parallel light beam and is applied to the end surface 36 of the core portion 30. The area sensor 42 is also called an area image sensor and is a solid-state image sensor.

For example, as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG.
If the optical fiber 3 is displaced from the position indicated by the solid line,
That is, when it is shifted to the upper left in FIG. 3, the core portion 3 of the optical fiber 3 shown in the area sensor 42 is schematically shown.
The reflected light RL from the end surface 36 of 0 changes from the proper light receiving area DO to the light receiving area D1. The area sensor 42 gives the size and position of the light receiving region D1 to the image storage device 58 and the position detection control device 57 of FIG. 2 as information.

The control unit 24 shown in FIG. 2 includes an image storage device 58,
It has the above-mentioned movement control device 55, position detection control device 57, and laser controller 59.

The laser controller 59 controls the laser light source 1. The image storage device 58 is connected to the area sensor 42 and stores the size and position of the reflected light RF reflected by the area sensor 42. The image storage device 58 uses the proper light receiving area DO of the area sensor 42 regarding the initial setting position of the end face 36.
Can be memorized. The position detection control device 57 detects the amount of deviation between the proper light receiving region DO stored in the image storage device 58 at the initial setting position and the light receiving region D1 at the current position with respect to the end surface 36 of the core portion 30 in the area sensor 42. To do. A signal is output from the position detection control device 57 to the movement control device 55 according to the value of this deviation, and the movement control device 55 controls the motors 14 and 16 to correct the end face 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3. The position, that is, the initial setting position is corrected.

The light from the light source 46 is emitted from the core portion 3 of the optical fiber 3.
The end face 36 of 0 is applied at an angle θ. This angle θ is preferably 45 degrees.

Next, the positioning operation of the end face 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3 in the X and Y directions will be described.

First, the end face 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber
Position. The optical fiber connector 8 of the optical fiber 3 is screwed into the receptacle 7, and the end face 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3 is placed at a predetermined correct position, that is, the end face of the core portion 30 is set to the initial setting position where the laser light L is condensed by the condenser lens 2a. Position 36 (circle shown by the solid line in FIG. 3). The positioning at this time moves the first table 10 and the second table 12. As a result, the laser light L
Since all the outputs of the laser light are incident on the core portion 30, the laser light output can be transmitted very efficiently.

When the end face 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3 is in the initial setting position as shown by the solid line in FIG. 3, the proper light receiving area DO in the area sensor 42 in FIG. 3 is shown in FIG.
Image storage device 58. Then for some reason,
For example, when the optical fiber connector 8 is detached from the main body 5 of FIG. 1 and then the optical fiber connector 8 is attached to the receptacle 7 again, for example, the end face 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3 is shown by a solid line as shown by the chain double-dashed line in FIG. When the core sensor 30 is mounted so as to deviate from the end surface 36 of the core portion 30 in the X and Y directions, the light receiving area of the area sensor 42 moves from the proper light receiving area DO to the light receiving area D1. The position detection control device 5 detects the amount of movement or deviation of the light receiving area.
7 controls the movement control device 55. Light receiving area D
The motors 14 and 16 are driven so as to approach or match the proper light receiving area DO from 1. As a result, the tip end portion 36 of the optical fiber 3 is positioned at the correct initial setting position described above.

FIG. 4 shows another preferred embodiment of the laser treatment apparatus according to the present invention. The difference from the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is that a CCD camera 142 is used instead of the area sensor 42.
Is to use. In this way CCD camera 1
By using 42, it is possible to illuminate with the lamp 150 from almost the same direction as the CCD camera 142, hit the end face 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3, and receive the reflected light with the CCD camera 142. That is, the end surface 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3 is easily affected by the inclination and surface accuracy of the end surface 36 of the core portion 30 of the optical fiber 3.
It is possible to adjust by detecting the position of or the position of the optical fiber connector 8.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. By using the two sets of position detection devices 40 so as to intersect with each other, for example, it is possible to detect the deviation of the end surface 36 of the core portion 30 in the Z direction perpendicular to the X direction and the Y direction. That is, the displacement of the end surface 36 of the core portion 30 in the Z direction of FIG. 2 is detected, and the position adjustment in the Z axis direction is performed.

[0026]

According to the present invention, when the optical fiber is attached or replaced, the end face of the optical fiber can be automatically and correctly positioned. Therefore, the laser beam transmission efficiency at the time of initial setting is maintained, and accurate laser treatment can be performed with a correct output.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a laser treatment apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an optical system and a control unit of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detection example of the position detection device shown in FIG. 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another preferred embodiment of the laser treatment apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Laser Light Source 3 Optical Fiber 5 Main Body 6 Position Adjusting Means 7 Receptacle (Connecting Member) 8 Optical Fiber Connector (Connecting Member) 10 First Table 12 Second Table 14, 16 Motor 24 Controller 36 End Face of Core 40 Position Detecting Device 42 Area Sensor (Detection means) L Laser light 44 Light projecting unit 46 Light source ◆

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An optical fiber (3) for connecting a connecting member (7,
A position for adjusting the position of the connecting member (7, 8) in the laser treatment apparatus which is connected to the main body (5) by 8) and guides the laser light (L) by the optical fiber (3) for treatment. Adjusting means (6), a light source (46) for irradiating the end face (36) of the optical fiber (3) with light, and a reflected light (R) from the end face (36) of the optical fiber (3)
F) for detecting the position of the connecting member (7, 8) by detecting the positional deviation of the optical fiber (3) by incorporating the detection information from the detecting means (42). Control unit (24) for controlling
A laser treatment device comprising: