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Beam Guidance, Focal Position Shifting and Beam Profile Shaping in Ultrashort Pulsed Laser Materials Processing

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Ultrashort Pulse Laser Technology

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Optical Sciences ((SSOS,volume 195))

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Abstract

In ultrashort pulsed (USP) laser micro-processing several optical and optomechanical components are needed to enable the desired process. Besides the USP laser itself, systems to guide and focus the laser beam are mandatory in almost all applications. Furthermore beam profile shaping , e.g. the creation of top-hat or super-Gaussian beam profiles, results in beneficial effects for many applications, such as increased efficiency and superior quality. In this chapter an overview of both established and up-to-date technologies regarding beam guiding , focal position shifting and beam profile shaping will be presented. For beam guidance and focal position shifting comparable key parameters will be stated to enable easy comparability. As an outlook on probable future applications, both temporal and spatial polarization profile shaping will be presented.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In some macro-processing applications the collimated laser beam passes the focusing optics before angular deflection. This enables larger working areas in remote processes, such as remote welding. As focal distance and thus spot size is increased, this technique is uncommon in micro-processing.

  2. 2.

    Paraxial approximation assumes that deflection angle is low, so that sin α = tan α = α, and beam height is negligible, i.e. all beams are near to optical axis.

  3. 3.

    The term ‘F-Theta’ historically relates to the optimization of such lens combination towards linear dependence of lateral beam height after focussing (‘F’) to deflection angle before focussing (‘Theta’). In modern scanning systems, this relation is optimized by software, so that planarization of the focal plane is the main task of F-Theta lenses today.

  4. 4.

    For more details on GVD and impact on pulse duration please refer to [3].

  5. 5.

    As a numeric example a bandwidth-limited pulse of 50 fs duration and 800 nm wavelength will be lengthened to 111 fs (54 fs) after passing through 10 mm SF14 (10 mm fused silica) [4].

  6. 6.

    Alternatively, divergence and thus focal position along the beam propagation axis is varied without using focusing optics. In this case, the divergence variation is used for both the compensation of the deviation from a planar focal position induced by beam guiding and focal position shifting. This technique is sometimes used in remote processing, e.g. remote welding. In micro-processing additional focusing optics are standard.

  7. 7.

    Ablation efficiency is the amount of material ablated by the laser pulse in real process divided by the value of ablated material when the total pulse energy would have been used for ablation.

  8. 8.

    Though, further beam shaping techniques are explained in the last part of this chapter, which do not accord to this categorization.

  9. 9.

    Spatially varying retarders consist of waveplates cut into circle sectors. Every waveplate’s optical axis is arranged in such way that when all circle sectors are arranged to a full circle, TEM00 laser beams with L polarization are transformed to R or A polarization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Photonic Technologies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Paul-Gordan-Str. 3, 91052, Erlangen, Germany

    Peter Bechtold, Ilya Alexeev & Michael Schmidt

  2. Bayerisches Laserzentrum GmbH, Konrad-Zuse-Str. 2-6, 91052, Erlangen, Germany

    Maik Zimmermann, Stephan Roth & Michael Schmidt

  3. Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Paul-Gordan-Str. 6, 91052, Erlangen, Germany

    Peter Bechtold, Maik Zimmermann, Stephan Roth, Ilya Alexeev & Michael Schmidt

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  1. Peter Bechtold
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  3. Stephan Roth
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Correspondence to Peter Bechtold .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Applied Physics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany

    Stefan Nolte

  2. Institute of Applied Physics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, Germany

    Frank Schrempel

  3. Dausinger + Giesen GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany

    Friedrich Dausinger

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Bechtold, P., Zimmermann, M., Roth, S., Alexeev, I., Schmidt, M. (2016). Beam Guidance, Focal Position Shifting and Beam Profile Shaping in Ultrashort Pulsed Laser Materials Processing. In: Nolte, S., Schrempel, F., Dausinger, F. (eds) Ultrashort Pulse Laser Technology. Springer Series in Optical Sciences, vol 195. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17659-8_12

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