Fig. 1.

(A) Schematic representation of a holmium:YAG laser low-power generator. Low-power generators consist of a single laser cavity (gray box) that emits its laser beam (red) in line with the output connector and the proximal end of the laser fiber (blue). (B) Schematic representation of a thulium fiber laser. Laser pumping is achieved via electronically modulating diode lasers (green boxes). A thulium-doped, 10–30-m-long silica fiber with a core diameter of 10–20 μm is used as the gain medium for generation of the laser beam. The uniform laser beam at the output connector allows the use of laser fibers as small as 50 μm (blue).