DEVICE FOR PHOTOABLATION OF THE CORNEA WITH A LASER BEAM

摘要

In a method for photoablation on the cornea with a laser beam with the aid of which a multiplicity of consecutive partial ablation operations are undertaken, the thickness of the cornea is determined with the aid of a measuring device co-operating with a Michelson interferometer before and after each partial ablation operation. By using the thickness values determined, the measuring device guides the laser beam, with intensity values appropriately adjusted by it, over the cornea in a controlled fashion so as not to undershoot a prescribed cornea thickness while complying with a prescribed cornea profile. The measuring device operates with a Michelson interferometer with a center wavelength of the measuring beam source in the region of 1,310 nm, and a monomode fiber for this wavelength in the reference arm such that the optical path length in air in the measuring arm can be acceptably compensated.