A study of material removal rates for shallow drilling with an ultrashort pulse laser

Using a commercial laser system operating at a 532 nm wavelength with 10 ps pulses, experiments were conducted on polished metal samples to study material removal characteristics from a low number of laser pulse exposures. The samples were analyzed with a scanning electron microscope and white light interferometer to gather data on surface deformation and material removal. The effects of energy and various double pulse machining methods were examined. The results from changing the pulse separation for double pulse drilling are compared to prior work with picosecond and nanosecond pulse lasers.