Apparatus and methods for treating an intervertebral disc by ablation of disc tissue. By combining thermophoresis with laser assisted particle removal, the methods and apparatus remove minute particles and assure that they will not redeposit. The sliding member is slidably received in the axial hole of the collet sleeve. In one embodiment, the emitterreceiver comprises a solid-state multi-layer tunable array of piezoelectric emitters and receivers that can be selectively \u201caimed\u201d in different directions without physically moving by independently varying the wavelength and power of the various emittersreceivers.