Patent ID: 8053743

Claim:
An apparatus for irradiating an area of a target material in order to produce a measurable effect, comprising: a material that responds differently to a short pulse of a particular wavelength of radiation at an intensity sufficient to be absorbed by a multiphoton process and to a longer pulse of radiation at the same said particular wavelength but at an intensity too low to be absorbed by a multiphoton process, and wherein said short pulse and said longer pulse interact to define the area of said measurable effect; a source of radiation producing pulses able to be absorbed by said material by a multiphoton process; a beam splitter to split the radiation emanating from said source into a first beam of radiation and a second beam of radiation; a pulse stretcher in the path of said first beam adapted to increase the duration of pulses entering it to where the intensity of said pulses is too low to be absorbed by said material by a multiphoton process; and a beam combiner to combine first beam, after passing through both said pulse stretcher, with said second beam, to form a combined beam, directed to said material.