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Megawatt Picosecond Lasers
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Posted 05/15/2012 - Industrial-Lasers.com - By Colin Moorhouse, Coherent Inc
Picosecond Laser Enables New High-Tech Devices
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The unrelenting pace of innovation in high-tech industries has led to ultrafast (picosecond) industrial lasers becoming important tools for applications requiring high precision. These lasers' unique operating regime (megawatts of peak power) enables clean cutting and patterning of sensitive materials and thin films used in a number of novel devices as well as micromachining of wide bandgap, "difficult" materials such as glass. In several instances, the picosecond laser is replacing multi-step photolithography with a single-step direct-write laser process; in other cases it supplants traditional cutting/drilling processes because it eliminates costly post-processing cleaning steps, such as stent manufacturing. With a choice of near-IR, green, or ultraviolet output, these lasers can micromachine almost any material bringing new technologies to market successfully.
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Coherent's fiber-based Talisker laser is particularly advantageous for fine control of the pulse energy to make consistent scribes, and there is no melt or debris on the surface without any post-laser cleaning. The high laser repetition rate of 200 kHz allows a fast scribing speed of 6 m/s, scalable to 15 m/s using the ultraviolet 500 kHz Talisker 500.
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Scribes in LEP [light emitting polymer] material using 1 μJ, 355nm pulses (fluence of 1.6**Fth) at a scribe speed of 6 m/s at 200 kHz
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High-quality cuts . . . in polylactide (PLA) material using 355nm picosecond pulses.
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1 mm-diameter hole drilled in 1 mm-thick D236T GLASS using 14 W of 1064nm picosecond pulses.
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1 mm-diameter hole drilled in 1-mm thick QUARTZ using 14 W of 1064nm picosecond pulses
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Summary
Picosecond lasers are now industrially proven, robust tools, offering sturdy and reliable performance suitable for a wide variety of industrial applications, such as the examples described here. The combination of short picosecond pulses, excellent pulse-to-pulse stability, and high repetition rates deliver precision cuts and patterns with sharp, clean edges with no requirement for post-process cleaning. Additionally, their fine control of laser energy and pulse-to-pulse stability enables blind holes, cuts, and scribes to be created with unprecedented accuracy, even in delicate materials such as polymers. Moreover, the wavelength flexibility (1064 nm, 532 nm and 355 nm) and excellent beam quality (M2<1.3) of the Talisker Ultra picosecond laser platform can be utilized for laser processes requiring extremely tightly focused laser beams with high peak power.10,11,12 The Talisker 500 shares a similar platform design with a single-output wavelength for optimal performance in production environments which is particularly advantageous for precise, small feature sizes in glass, which is gaining market share in emerging applications as alternatives to existing laser and non-laser processes.
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Posted 05/15/2012 - Industrial-Lasers.com - By Colin Moorhouse, Coherent Inc
Picosecond Laser Enables New High-Tech Devices
Quote:
The unrelenting pace of innovation in high-tech industries has led to ultrafast (picosecond) industrial lasers becoming important tools for applications requiring high precision. These lasers' unique operating regime (megawatts of peak power) enables clean cutting and patterning of sensitive materials and thin films used in a number of novel devices as well as micromachining of wide bandgap, "difficult" materials such as glass. In several instances, the picosecond laser is replacing multi-step photolithography with a single-step direct-write laser process; in other cases it supplants traditional cutting/drilling processes because it eliminates costly post-processing cleaning steps, such as stent manufacturing. With a choice of near-IR, green, or ultraviolet output, these lasers can micromachine almost any material bringing new technologies to market successfully.
Quote:
Coherent's fiber-based Talisker laser is particularly advantageous for fine control of the pulse energy to make consistent scribes, and there is no melt or debris on the surface without any post-laser cleaning. The high laser repetition rate of 200 kHz allows a fast scribing speed of 6 m/s, scalable to 15 m/s using the ultraviolet 500 kHz Talisker 500.
Quote:
Scribes in LEP [light emitting polymer] material using 1 μJ, 355nm pulses (fluence of 1.6**Fth) at a scribe speed of 6 m/s at 200 kHz
Quote:
High-quality cuts . . . in polylactide (PLA) material using 355nm picosecond pulses.
Quote:
1 mm-diameter hole drilled in 1 mm-thick D236T GLASS using 14 W of 1064nm picosecond pulses.
Quote:
1 mm-diameter hole drilled in 1-mm thick QUARTZ using 14 W of 1064nm picosecond pulses
Quote:
Summary
Picosecond lasers are now industrially proven, robust tools, offering sturdy and reliable performance suitable for a wide variety of industrial applications, such as the examples described here. The combination of short picosecond pulses, excellent pulse-to-pulse stability, and high repetition rates deliver precision cuts and patterns with sharp, clean edges with no requirement for post-process cleaning. Additionally, their fine control of laser energy and pulse-to-pulse stability enables blind holes, cuts, and scribes to be created with unprecedented accuracy, even in delicate materials such as polymers. Moreover, the wavelength flexibility (1064 nm, 532 nm and 355 nm) and excellent beam quality (M2<1.3) of the Talisker Ultra picosecond laser platform can be utilized for laser processes requiring extremely tightly focused laser beams with high peak power.10,11,12 The Talisker 500 shares a similar platform design with a single-output wavelength for optimal performance in production environments which is particularly advantageous for precise, small feature sizes in glass, which is gaining market share in emerging applications as alternatives to existing laser and non-laser processes.
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