Patent ID: 6200309
Filing Date: 2001-03-13
Classification: A61N,H01S

Abstract:
A method of photodynamic therapy, comprising the steps of:contacting tumor cells with a photosensitizer compound;irradiating said tumor cells in the presence of said photosensitizer compound with a laser beam at a light wavelength effective to excite said photosensitizer compound to cause cytotoxic effects upon the tumor cells, wherein said laser beam is generated using a phased array Raman laser amplifier including: (a) a beam generator generating a fundamental laser beam and a Raman seed frequency laser beam, and (b) a laser amplifier array forming a diffraction limited output laser beam at the Raman seed frequency by amplifying said fundamental laser beam to a power level corresponding to a Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) threshold to thereby pump the SRS process and provide Raman gain to the Raman seed frequency laser beam.