A tissue removal device for eye surgery is provided, comprising: a handpieceenclosing aninterior and having proximal and distal openings a vacuum conduit extendingfrom theproximal opening and through the interior and distal opening, and terminatingat an open distalconduit end disposed outside the handpiece at a distance from the distalopening, the conduitincluding a rigid section extending along at least a portion of the conduit tothe distal conduitend, wherein the conduit defines a fluid path a valve mechanism comprising anactuator thatmoves a movable member in the rigid section to alternately open and close thefluid path, thevalve mechanism generating vacuum pulses at a pulse rate and magnitude thatbreaks up targettissue and a vacuum control device comprising circuitry configured to actuatethe valvemechanism between an open and closed states to induce vacuum pulses at acontrollable rate.
