Transmission of corneal collagen during ArF excimer laser ablation.

The time-resolved transmission of collagen films and 10-microns sections of bovine cornea during ArF laser ablation has been investigated. The film studies were performed on thin layers of extracted bovine corneal collagen, the principal chromophore in 193 nm photoablation. Transmission measurements were made on both dry and water-saturated films to assess the sensitivity of the ablation process to hydration. Distinct transient optical changes were observed in both fully desiccated and rehydrated films. Dehydrated films exhibit rapid reduction in film absorption over the time-course of the ablating laser pulse, presumably due to chromophore bleaching or annihilation. In contrast, rehydrated films demonstrate a short-lived enhancement of the attenuation. In either case, a single ablative laser pulse increased the long-term transmission of the film, although this increase was a factor of five greater for dehydrated films than for rehydrated samples. Results obtained from corneal tissue sections were essentially identical to those derived from hydrated collagen films.