Abstract: A device provides for delivery and control of extremely high peak-intensity femtosecond pulses of light. The device transmits pulses from a femtosecond laser to an endovascular location via a suitable optical fiber and controls the light intensity distribution at the site of surgery. The extremely high intensity enables the instantaneous ablation of material (e.g. calcified plaque) inside the blood vessel, with minimal damage to surrounding tissue.

Abstract: A photodetector for the detection of a light beam, comprising: a metal layer acting as a ground plane, a semiconductor layer covering the metal layer, wherein the semiconductor layer is made of at least two different materials forming an heterostructure, an array of metal pads covering the semiconductor layer, collecting the light beam and directing it towards the semiconductor layer, each of the metal pads, together with the semiconductor layer and the metal layer underneath it, the metal pads being interconnected by metal connection strips for conducting the detection current, wherein the semiconductor layer is completely etched in areas of the semiconductor layer that are neither covered by the metal pads nor by the connection strips, and wherein each metal pad forming an antenna for collecting incident photons of the light beam on an effective collection surface (??) of the light at least twice larger than a physical collection surface (A) of the semiconductor layer covered by said metal pad.