Method and apparatus for removing cataractous lens tissue by laser radiation

The invention under discussion contemplates apparatus and technique for surgically non-invasive surgery to remove cateracted-lens tissue, enabling the beam output of a laser to be focused from a convergentray bundle to a focal spot of maximum power density at the anterior surface of a cataracted lens and which scans the focal spot over a predetermined area or areas of the cataracted lens. The beam is a focal and therefore diffuse as it enters the eye through the cornea, and it is also diffuse (being divergent) in the controllably unlikely event that the laser energy pases through an opening it has created in the cataracted lens; the diffusion assures against damage to either or both of the cornea and the retina, for power levels sufficient to achieve ablative photodecomposition and/or thermal decomposition and/or photofragmentation and/or photoemulsification of the cataracted-lens tissue. Various features are disclosed for assuring safety and uniformity in the removal of involved tissue