Spatially resolved transmission of highly focused beams through the cornea and sclera between 1400 and 1800 nm

Abstract

We investigated the spatial confinement of laser beams focused through human cornea and sclera using long near infrared wavelengths. Using a 0.4 numerical aperture lens, we measured the spatial transmission of the smallest emergent beam on the back surface of the tissue. We found that standard axial transmission measurements over estimate the amount of unscattered light for the sclera and that 1600 nm to 1700 nm had the maximum unscattered transmission through cornea and sclera. The light confinement may be useful in producing localized subsurface linear and nonlinear optical processes.