Shielding properties of laser-induced plasmas in ocular media irradiated by single Nd:YAG pulses of different durations.

Shielding of laser pulses by plasmas generated in ocular media has been experimentally investigated using single Nd:YAG laser pulses of different durations, ranging from several nanoseconds (ns) to a few tens of picoseconds (ps), both in saline solution and extracted calf vitreous. At the respective threshold radiant exposures for breakdown in saline (259 mJ/cm2 for 7 ns, 20.5 mJ/cm2 for 220 ps and 4.7 mJ/cm2 for 30 ps pulses) the single pulse energy transmission is found to be about 74% for 7 ns, 55% for 220 ps and 50% for 30 ps, thus showing that shielding of laser-induced plasmas is more effective for shorter pulses than for longer pulses. Moreover, the decrease in transmission with increasing radiant exposure is faster in the picosecond case than in the nanosecond case. These results show that direct irradiation of the retina is, to some extent, present especially near threshold. In the case of picosecond pulses, a comparison with published results indicates that shielding between subsequent pulses in a train is likely to occur only to a very limited extent.