Time-resolved measurements of the sodium emission in the plume generated by laser ablation of myocardium tissue

Optical spectroscopy stands as a powerful tool to gather information on the physical phenomena involved in the laser ablation process. This work reports on the time-resolved measurement of the ablation plume generated by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Chicken heart tissue was used as sample. A helium-neon laser, aligned perpendicularly to the Nd:YAG laser beam and parallel to the ablated surface, was used as a probe beam. The probe light is collected by an optical fiber and sent to a spectrophotometer for analysis. A CCD detector was connected to the spectrometer. The technique reveals the differences in the plume behavior. Our results show that the plume is formed with some delay time with respect to the high energy laser pulse. The data show the constitution of the plume for different moments in time allowing the identification of the sodium emission lines in the chicken myocardium. For times lower than 40 mus just light components are ejected from the tissue while the heavier components of the plume takes much more time to be ejected and later to dissipate from the path of the probe beam.