Cloth-cutting studies using excimer laser ablation

Laser cutting of textiles with excimer lasers was undertaken for the Amtex program at Los Alamos. These studies were carried out in tandem with laser cutting studies at YAG and copper vapor laser (Green) wavelengths at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and at CO2 wavelengths at the Argonne National Laboratory. Laser ablation through the process of photo chemical bond breaking at UV (XeCl at 308 nm) wavelengths proved to be at least a factor of 24 more efficient than thermal ablation at the longer YAG wavelength (1.06 (mu) ). We project that a diffraction limited 100 watt XeCl laser is capable of cutting at a rate of 500 cm/sec (200 in/sec) for all cloths tested with the exception of denim and air bag material.