Patent ID: 8202268

Claim:
A method comprising: providing a dual-mode laser system in a self-contained user-carriable unit having a battery, wherein the providing of the dual-mode laser system includes providing a rare-earth doped large-mode-area (LMA) first fiber gain-medium section and one or more passive polarization-maintaining (PM) fiber sections configured in series to have a ring optical signal path that extends through the first fiber gain medium, and providing a rare-earth-doped second fiber gain medium; in a first mode, generating CW or quasi-CW laser light from the dual-mode laser system; in a second mode, generating pulsed laser light from the dual-mode laser system; supplying power from the battery to the laser system for the generating of the CW or quasi-CW laser light and for the generating of the pulsed laser light from the dual-mode laser system; in the first mode, using the CW or quasi-CW laser light from the dual-mode laser system to coagulate fluids in human tissue; in the second mode, using the pulsed laser light from the dual-mode laser system to cause precise laser ablation of human tissues in an irradiated tissue zone within a medical procedure by localized tissue heating that induces stress tissue damage with minimal collateral heat damage outside the irradiated tissue zone; generating a ring signal laser beam in the ring optical signal path by optically pumping the first fiber gain medium and propagating the ring signal laser beam across free-space parts of the ring optical signal path, wherein the ring signal laser beam has a first wavelength; Q-switching the ring signal laser beam between free-space parts in the ring optical signal path but outside of the first fiber gain medium in order to generate the pulsed laser light of the second mode; extracting an intermediate optical signal beam from the ring signal laser beam in the ring optical signal path outside of the first fiber gain medium; optically pumping the second fiber gain medium; and amplifying the intermediate signal beam in the second fiber gain medium to form the pulsed laser light; and carrying, by the user, the entirety of the laser system during the using of the CW or quasi-CW laser light in the first mode and during the using of the pulsed laser light in the second mode.