Acousto-optic compensation of tremor for use in a handheld laser microsurgical instrument

Development of a handheld microsurgical manipulator that incorporates active cancellation of the hand tremor of the user is ongoing. Thus far, experiments with the instrument have involved mechanical tools or end-effectors. In considering the possibility of laser procedures with the instrument, it is conceivable that a laser version of the instrument could be developed with no moving parts, using acousto-optic deflection of the laser beam to compensate the tremor. The paper describes the application and presents a proof of concept in a single degree of freedom using a benchtop laser deflection system and recorded hand motion data. Operating with a hand motion input tremor amplitude of 4 microns rms, the average overall canceling error is 0.8 microns rms.