Narrow angle illumination ring for ophthalmic surgical laser system

An illumination light source for an ophthalmic surgical laser system, comprising:

• a ring shaped housing, having a plurality of lower apertures located in a bottom portion and forming a circle;
• a plurality of lenses disposed in a circle within the housing, each lens being located above one of the plurality of lower apertures;
• a ring shaped upper mask disposed within and concentrically with the housing, located above the plurality of lenses, the upper mask having a plurality of upper apertures formed thereon in a circle, each upper aperture being located above one of the plurality of lenses;
• a ring shaped circuit board disposed concentrically with the housing;
• and
• a plurality of light emitting devices disposed on the circuit board forming a circle, the plurality of light emitting devices located above the upper mask and having light emitting surfaces facing the upper mask, each light emitting device being locate above one of the upper apertures;
• wherein light emitted by each light emitting device, after passing through the corresponding upper aperture and focused by the corresponding lens, forms a light cone, wherein an axis of the light cone which passes through a center of the upper aperture and a center of the lens intersects a central axis of the housing at an intersection location which is at a predetermined distance from the lens, and wherein at the intersection location, a field of illumination of the light cone is between 10 mm and 20 mm in diameter.