Pulsed liquid microjet for microsurgery

The precision of soft tissue dissection with pulsed lasers in liquid media is typically limited by collateral damage from vapor bubbles created during energy deposition. We present an alternative technique for creating incisions using a pulsed liquid microjet driven by an electric discharge-induced vapor bubble generated inside a micronozzle. We use this technique to create a pulsed jet 30 μm in diameter with a peak velocity of 90 m/s and total ejected volume on the order of 100 pl. Incision tests on a polyacrylamide gel simulating soft tissue show that the width of the cut is comparable to the diameter of the micronozzle and that collateral damage is significantly less than that produced by a vapor bubble not confined by the nozzle.