<title>Numerical simulation of infrared photoablation</title>

Abstract

The ablation of soft tissue with free-running infrared lasers of low intensity is a thermal evaporation process. Nevertheless, the influence of the temperature dependent optical absorption is not yet understood. A detailed model of the photoablation process has been developed which was solved by the finite element method. Ablation rates and thermal damages are calculated and compared with experimental values. It has been shown, that the influence of the temperature dependent absorption coefficient cannot be neglected.