Laser-jet device with direct input of radiation into a liquid beamguide

This paper discusses a device for implementing the well-known principle of canalization of laser radiation into a thin laminar liquid jet (a beamguide) that serves as a medium for delivering radiation to an object and a cooling medium. A stable laminar liquid jet with a fairly large diameter of 0.3-0.8 mm is used at a flow velocity of about 10 m/s, along with a new principle by which laser radiation is directly introduced into the jet from a quartz optical fiber into the liquid beamguide. As a result, the input device can be made simple, compact, flexible, and mobile. With radiation power of up to 4 W delivered along the jet, it was demonstrated that it is possible to fine-process sheet polystyrene, as well as to dissect models of hematopoietic biological tissues with no scorching or carbonization of the seam or the adjacent regions. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America