A first-order model for computation of laser-induced breakdown thresholds in ocular and aqueous media. II. Comparison to experiment

For pt. I see ibid., vol.31, no.12, p.2241-9 (1995). An analytic, first-order model has been developed to calculate irradiance thresholds for laser-induced breakdown (LIB) in condensed media, including ocular and aqueous media. A complete derivation and description of the model was given in a previous paper (Part I). The model has been incorporated into a computer code and code results have been compared to experimentally measured irradiance thresholds for breakdown of ocular media, saline, and water by nanosecond, picosecond, and femtosecond laser pulses in the visible and near-infrared. The comparison included both breakdown data from the literature and from our own measurements. Theoretical values match experiment to within a factor of 2 or better, over a range of pulsewidths spanning five orders of magnitude.