Ultra-deep plasma-assisted drilling of solids by high-power nanosecond lasers: experimental studies

Abstract

ABSTRACT A new mechanism of ultra-deep (up to tens of microns per pulse, sub-mm total hole depths) plasma-assisted ablative drilling of optically opaque and transparent materials by high-power nanosecond lasers proposed by Kudryashov et al. has been studied experimentally using average drilling rate and photoacoustic measurements. In the drilling experiments, average multi-micron crater depth per laser shot and instantaneous recoil pressure of ablated products have been measured as a function of laser energy at constant focusing conditions using optical transmission and contact photo acoustic techniques, respectively. Experimental results of this work support the theoretical explanation of the ultra-deep drilling mechanism as a number of stages including ultra-deep “non-thermal” energy delivery by a short-wavelength radiation of the surface high-temperature ablative plasma, bulk heating and melting of these materials, accompanied by the following subsurface boiling in the melt pool and resulting melt expulsion off of the target. Keywords: high-power nanosecond lasers, silicon, dielectric materials, multi-micron deep drilling, short-wavelength plasma radiation, photoacoustic and op tical monitoring and characterization