The Biomedical Optics Department focuses on lasers and optics in the field of laser medicine and biophotonics. Currently, the department has two groups: Laser Medicine and Biophotonics.

Main fields of work

Our main focus is on the application of ultrashort laser pulses (fs pulses) for precise tissue treatment (photo disruption) and high-precision imaging (multi-photon microscopy, optical coherence tomography).

Presbyopia treatment

Ultra precise fs-laser cuts in the ocular lense can increase the deformability of lense. Based on this finding, we are working on a treatment for presbyopia.  

Refractive surgery

Refractive surgery, which is very popular as a method to "get rid of your glasses", is continuously being further developed in terms of physical compatibility and precision. Here, our working group develops new approaches and strategies that can easily be translated into to practice in cooperation with partners from industry.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT)

Short-coherent  light sources (broadband cw or fs-pulsed) can be used to obtain subsurface images of tissue by interferometric detection. We use OCT to take non-invasive optical biopsies of the vocal fold and to measure the outline of the crystalline lens.

Ultrafast physics

Whereas the applications of ultrashort laser pulses increase rapidly, the physics of the interaction between the laser pulses and tissue are in many case not fully understood. To obtain improved knowledge of the interaction for many fs-laser applications this group performs numerical simulations as well as fundamental experiments.

Nanochirurgie und Multiphotonen Mikroskopie

When focusing ultrashort laser pulses at high numerical apertures (NA >1), structures below the diffraction limit of light can be stimulated and destroyed by multi-photon absorption. Depending on the pulse energy level, surgical interventions within a biological cell are feasible and cell organelles can be visualized in sub-micrometer resolution by introducing colorants or using the auto-fluorescence of the tissue.

National  cooperation partners

• Hannover Medical School (MHH)
• Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI)
• Laserforum Koeln e. V.

International cooperation partners

• Cole Eye Institute Cleveland USA, Harvard University

More information

For more detailed information about the Biomedical Optics Department please visit www.lasermedizin.uni-hannover.de/index.php?id=forschung&L=1.