Nonimaging optical designs for laser fiber optic surgery

Nonimaging edge-ray concentrators may be uniquely well suited to a number of laser fiber optic contact surgical procedures where sizable increases in irradiance are required at maximum collection efficiency, and light must be emitted uniformly over a wide angular range. Compared to earlier fiber optic devices developed for these tasks, the delivered irradiance from nonimaging designs can be more than double, at maximum radiative efficiency, while producing a Lambertian absorber, i.e., uniform emission over the entire hemisphere. Because edge-ray designs appear to have been overlooked in the development of laser fiber optic devices, we present a couple of candidate designs and evaluate attainable flux concentration and radiative efficiency.