Novel cylindrical illuminator tip for ultraviolet light delivery

The design, processing, and sequential testing of a novel cylindrical diffusing optical fiber tip for ultraviolet light delivery is described. This device has been shown to uniformly (+1-15%) illuminate angioplasty balloons, 20 mm in length, that are used in an experimental photochemotherapeutic treatment of swine intimal hyperplasia. Our experiments show that uniform diffusing tips of < 400 micron diameter can be reliably constructed for this and other interstitial applications. Modeling results indicate that this design is scalable to smaller diameters. The diffusing tips are made by stripping the protective buffer and etching away the cladding over a length of 20 mm from the fiber tip and replacing it with a thin layer of optical epoxy mixed with A1O3 powder. To improve the uniformity and ease of fabrication, we have evaluated a new device configuration where the tip is etched into a modified conical shape, and the distal end face is polished and then coated with an optically opaque epoxy. This is shown to uniformly scatter 70% of the light launched into the fiber without forward transmission. To our knowledge, we are the first to use this device configuration, and we have achieved a uniform cylindrical pattern of laser energy with the uniformity < 15% of the average value. We have measured the optical properties of the tips through all the sequences of the fabrication. The performances of the diffusing tips for illuminating angioplasty balloons are then evaluated by Ultraviolet Light at 365 nm. A Ti:Sapphire Ring Laser System with a doubling crystal pumped by an argon ion laser is used to generate the wavelength in this study.