Patent ID: 8807752

Claim:
A method for correcting the placement of a laser beam's focal point outside an implant material to compensate for displacements of the focal point caused when the implant material becomes positioned on an optical path of the laser beam, the method comprising the steps of: identifying an intended target position for the focal point of the laser beam, wherein the intended target position is outside the implant material and is identified relative to a reference datum; defining a volume of the implant material to include dimensional measurements of the volume, a refractive index of the implant material, and a configuration of the volume; orienting the optical path of the laser beam relative to the defined volume of implant material; calculating a refracted target position based on the orienting step, said refracted target position accounting for refractive optical characteristics introduced by the implant material; measuring a deviation between the intended target position and the refracted target position; focusing the laser beam along the optical path to the focal point; and correcting the focusing step to compensate for the deviation measured in the measuring step by making the refracted target position of the focal point substantially coincident with the intended target position.