Femtosecond Micromachinning

Ultrashort
Ultrashortpulses
pulsesare
areideal
idealfor
formicro-machining
micro-machining
Ultrashort
Ultrashortpulse
pulselasers
laserscan
canprecision
precisionmachine
machinemany
manymaterials
materials
Diamond

Ceramics

100 m

Metals
Teeth

Polymers

High Explosives

M.D. Feit, A.M. Komashko, A.M. Rubenchik, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Ultrashort-pulse micro-machining can make sub-wavelength holes

Beam profile
Threshold for cutting

Beam focused to 2

x
Size of hole

Because high-order nonlinear-optical processes are responsible

for cutting, there is effectively a threshold for cutting. This means
that careful control of the intensity can yield a very small hole

Long- vs. short-pulse micromachining

Long pulse

Short pulse

The main advantages of femtosecond micro machining are:

- No thermal damage: High machining quality, heat sensitive material machining
- Unmatched accuracy: Down to 100nm (very well defined ablation threshold)
- No wavelength dependence: Any material can be machined with the same laser

Examples
Femtosecond-Pulse
Hole
Sub-micron
Femtosecond-Pulse
Drilled
stainless
Hole
steel
Sub-micronholes
holesin
inDrilled
stainless
steel

540 nm