Laser-fabricated axicons for glass dicing applications

Abstract

Laser-based fabrication, including the ultrashort laser ablation and the subsequent CO2 polishing steps, is a very attractive tool for the complex 2.5D surface structuring, which could be applied for the fabrication of compact optical elements. However, as an alternative to conventional optics, these elements require validation, especially for high power applications, such as material processing. In this contribution, we comprehensively investigate all-laser-fabricated axicons from fused silica. We demonstrate that these elements allow the generation of high-quality Bessel-like optical beam with a long non-diffractive length and could be efficiently applied for 1 mm-thick glass dicing. Furthermore, we show that the asymmetry of the generated intensity pattern could be controlled via axicon tilt operation, which allows generating elongated modifications with the dominant transverse crack propagation direction. As a result, the higher dicing speed with better dicing quality and easier separation is achieved.