Micromachining of metal and silicon using high average power ultrafast fiber lasers

Ultrafast laser micromachining has been widely proven to be a high quality, high flexibility process, with numerous applications. The ultrashort pulse duration (<10ps) and the very high intensity on the target (up to 1014 W/cm2) lead to a complete ionization of the irradiated volume by non-linear effects. Since pulse duration is below the heat diffusion time, the irradiated volume is ejected before any heat diffusion or thermal damage, and consequently side-effects are significantly reduced compared to longer pulses. Hence, reduced side-effects enable to preserve the functionalities of the material and to perform fine and accurate micro fabrications such as drilling, cutting, engraving, and internal marking. Low pulse energy is generally required for micro machining (<100µJ). Until recently, a main drawback was the low processing speed due to the limited average power available from ultrafast lasers. Recent advances in commercial ultrafast lasers have significantly increased the average power available to...

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