Time progression of ultrashort laser ablation in a transparent material

Abstract

Laser ablation on the ultra-short-pulses regime (femtosecond), has an impact on materials processing and micromachining in a quite profound ways. The investigation of the time progression of the laser ablation process within the material can produce much information and it is not conventionally used. The implementation of such study is the main aim of this paper. The temporal dependence of the diameter and depth of micro-drilling in the sample was verified, beyond the simple understanding of the mechanism for plasma generated during the ablation. From the monitoring of the time progression of the ablation, the time dependence for the velocity of ablation had been determined. In most cases, fume attenuation of the incoming laser beam and fume escape paths, produce dominant influence the characteristics of the region ablated. The method here employed is simple and can be carried out in real time without interruption of the process. In the implemented method light scattered from an auxiliary source allow visualization and record of the ablated geometry as it progress.