Microstructured Tube-Leaky Glass Waveguide for Delivery of High-Powered Er:Yag Laser

We present tube-leaky fiber with microstructured glass supports as a hollow core microstructured optical fiber. Attenuation constants of tube-leaky fibers are derived by using a ray optic method and designed the wall thickness of the fibers for Er:YAG laser which is often used for medical applications. From the loss measurements of Er:YAG laser, the tube-leaky fibers supported by microstructured glass made of borosilicate-glass can deliver laser with 0.85 dB/m despite of high material absorption around laser wavelength. The high power energy transmission results of the fabricated fibers are at the order of 80-120 mJ. These energies are enough to ablate biological tissues in surgical operations.