High rep rate picosecond laser materials processing

Abstract

Novel solid-state picosecond lasers open new vistas for the industrial application of precise micro-machining. These directly diode-pumped sources provide high efficiency and high average power from a robust set up with good beam quality. Pulse repetition rates of several hundreds of kHz enable a maximized throughput. The pulse duration of about 10 picoseconds has been proved as an optimum for the processing of many materials, e.g. metals. Random access to the pulses via TTL-triggering enables the user to synchronize the repetition rate to external processes and to run bursts, sequences and groups of pulses. Examples for high quality drilling, cutting and structuring of several materials will be presented and the new potentials of picosecond laser processing with the required precision and speed will be discussed.Novel solid-state picosecond lasers open new vistas for the industrial application of precise micro-machining. These directly diode-pumped sources provide high efficiency and high average power from a robust set up with good beam quality. Pulse repetition rates of several hundreds of kHz enable a maximized throughput. The pulse duration of about 10 picoseconds has been proved as an optimum for the processing of many materials, e.g. metals. Random access to the pulses via TTL-triggering enables the user to synchronize the repetition rate to external processes and to run bursts, sequences and groups of pulses. Examples for high quality drilling, cutting and structuring of several materials will be presented and the new potentials of picosecond laser processing with the required precision and speed will be discussed.