Design and construction of holmium:yttrium aluminum garnet laser for lithotripsy applications

A holmium:yttrium aluminum garnet (Ho:YAG) laser is mainly used in medical surgeries such as tissue ablation and removal of urinary stones. In the present study, a 20 W solid-state 2.08 mu m Ho:YAG laser was designed and implemented for lithotripsy applications. Effects of the temporal profile beam of the Ho:YAG laser on stone fragmentation were demonstrated. Moreover, the power supply driver of the xenon flashlamp was implemented with a distinctive trigger circuit at the start of the laser operation. The home-built power driver was customized to deliver a 0.2-3 ms rectangular pulse duration between 1 and 20 Hz frequencies. Laser pulse energies at 5 Hz in response to pumping energy were measured with 3.55% slope efficiency. Similarly, laser pulse energies at 10 Hz were recorded with a slope efficiency of 2.96%. Overall, 1.7% wall-plug (electrical to optical) efficiency was obtained at 5 and 10 Hz laser operations.