Systems and methods for fragmenting a lens by a laser cataract surgery system includes a sub -nanosecond laser source generating a treatment beam that includes a plurality of laser beam pulses. An optical delivery system is coupled to the sub-nanosecond laser source to receive and direct the treatment beam. A processor is coupled to the sub-nanosecond laser source and the optical delivery system. The processor includes a tangible non-volatile computer readable medium comprising instructions to determine a lens cut pattern for lens fragmentation and determine a plurality of energies of the treatment beam as a linear function of a depth of the lens cut pattern. The treatment beam is output according to the lens cut pattern and the determined energies.
