Laser Materials Processing

Laser materials processing is of great interest for industrial applications as well as for scientific investigations. Main advantages of the laser as a micromachining tool are the high speed at which a laser beam can be moved and, contrary to mechanical tools, laser light is not subject to wear and tear. Besides the wavelength, the pulse duration of the laser source is the main parameter influencing the nature of the lasermaterial coupling. Pulse durations of down to a few femtoseconds are available from state of the art laser systems. The high peak intensities. provided by ultrashort pulses initiate multiphoton absorption mechanisms, bridging a band gap much larger than the photon energy. Thus, by applying ultrashort pulses the ablation of nearly any material is possible by multiphoton absorption.

The non-thermal nature of ultrashort pulsed ablation together with the ultrafast mechanism offers well-defined ablation threshold fluences and enables laser structuring with high precision.

Lasers are routinely used in a variety of material cutting and drilling applications in a wide variety of industrial manufacturing processes. Lasers can cut and drill at the highest speeds available, and can support 24/7 manufacturing with minimal maintenance required.

Laser scribing improves yield by creating much narrower scribe lines than traditional mechanical scribing. Laser scribing is a noncontact process that reduces micro-cracking and damage to the substrate. The high peak power and excellent beam quality of Spectra-Physics lasers are ideal for scribing as they result in cleaner scribe lines and higher throughput.

Laser marking is widely used for small-, medium- and large-scale part marking, identification and traceability in a rapid, flexible process. Patterns include texts, 2D barcodes/data matrices, logos, bitmaps or any geometric shape. Spectra-Physics extensive portfolio of Q-Switched, MOPA and CW lasers in IR, green and UV cover a broad range of marking requirements.