A laser machining head for machining a workpiece by means of a laser beam, includes: a scanning device for directing the laser beam at a plurality of positions on a workpiece surface; an image acquisition device for acquiring an image of the workpiece surface, said image acquisition device including an objective with a lens having an adjustable focal length; and a control configured to adjust a focal length of the lens based on a measurement value.

Electrostatic capacitance type height sensor (10) includes sensor electrode (11) attached to a tip of laser machining nozzle (1), signal processor (13) that transmits a voltage signal to sensor electrode (11) and detects a signal from sensor electrode (11) to measure a distance between a tip of sensor electrode (11) and workpiece (5) electrically connected to a ground, and cable (12) electrically connecting sensor electrode (11) to signal processor (13). Signal processor (13) includes a disconnection determinator that determines that cable (12) is broken if the signal from sensor electrode (11) is higher or equal to a predetermined level.

An SiC substrate processing method for producing an SiC substrate from an SiC ingot. The SiC substrate processing method includes a separation layer forming step of setting a focal point of a laser beam having a transmission wavelength to SiC inside the SiC ingot at a predetermined depth from the upper surface of the SiC ingot and next applying the laser beam LB to the SiC ingot to thereby form a separation layer for separating the SiC substrate from the SiC ingot, a substrate attaching step of attaching a substrate to the upper surface of the SiC ingot, and a separating step of applying an external force to the separation layer to thereby separate the SiC substrate with the substrate from the SiC ingot along the separation layer.

A laser processing system that can effectively blow out a material of a workpiece that is melted by a laser beam by effectively utilizing an assist gas emitted from a nozzle. The laser processing system includes a nozzle including an emission opening configured to emit a jet of an assist gas along an optical axis of a laser beam, the nozzle being configured to form a maximum point of velocity of the jet at a position away from the emission opening; a measuring instrument configured to measure a supply flow rate of the assist gas to the nozzle; and a position acquisition section configured to acquire the position of the maximum point from a measurement value of the measuring instrument by predetermined calculation.

A laser processing system that can effectively blow out a material of a workpiece melted by a laser beam by effectively utilizing an assist gas emitted from a nozzle. The laser processing system comprising a nozzle including an emission opening configured to emit a jet of an assist gas along an optical axis of a laser beam, the nozzle being configured to form a maximum point of velocity of the jet at a position away from the emission opening; a measuring instrument configured to measure a sound generated by the jet impinging on an object; and a position acquisition section configured to acquire information representing the position of the maximum point based on output data of the measuring instrument.

A machining head is provided for a laser machining system configured to machine a workpiece using a laser beam. The machining head includes a housing having an opening for emitting the laser beam from the machining head; at least one reflective reference at the housing; and a measuring device configured to direct an optical measurement beam towards the opening and the at least one reflective reference. The measuring device is further configured to determine a distance (d1) between the end portion and the workpiece on the basis of a first reflection (A) of the optical measurement beam from the at least one reflective reference and a second reflection (B) of the optical measurement beam from the workpiece.

A method of laser welding a workpiece stack-up (10) that includes at least two overlapping steel workpieces, at least one of which includes a surface coating of a zinc-based material. The method includes forming at least one preliminary weld deposit (74) in the workpiece stack-up (10) and, thereafter, forming a principal laser weld joint. The formation of the principal laser spot weld joint involves advancing a principal welding laser beam (90) relative to a plane of the top surface (20) of the workpiece stack-up (10) along a beam travel pattern (104) that lies within an annular weld area (92). The beam travel pattern (104) of the principal welding laser beam (90) surrounds a center area (98) on the plane of the top surface (20) that spans the at least one preliminary weld deposit (74) formed in the workpiece stack-up (10).

A measuring device determines a distance between a processing head for a laser processing system configured to process a workpiece with a laser beam and the workpiece. The measuring device includes an optical coherence tomograph to measure a distance between the processing head and workpiece. In the optical coherence tomograph, measuring light generated by a measuring light source and reflected by the workpiece interferes with measuring light reflected in a reference arm with two or more reference stages. The stages include a first reference stage configured such that the measuring light reflected therein travels a first optical path length, and a second reference stage configured such that the measuring light reflected therein travels a second optical path length different from the first length, wherein the measuring light reflected by the workpiece interferes with reflected measuring light of the first reference stage and reflected measuring light of the second reference stage.

A wafer perforating device includes a chuck stage configured to receive a wafer, a housing spaced apart in a vertical direction on the chuck stage, wherein at least one of the housing and the chuck stage moves in a first horizontal direction, and the housing and the chuck stage intersect each other on the first direction, a displacement sensor fixed within the housing and configured to measure a displacement with a surface of the wafer at a perforating point spaced apart periodically in the first direction of the wafer and a laser module fixed within the housing and configured to irradiate a laser into a perforating depth determined according to the displacement at the perforating point. The displacement sensor determines whether an upper particle and a lower particle are present at the perforating point by considering a step height of the displacement, and ignores the displacement of the perforating point with the presence of an upper particle.

A method of producing a projection path data to be used in forming a desired shape by projecting a laser beam into a material, the method includes a first step of converting two-dimensional information representing the desired shape in two dimensions in an XYZ coordinate system into three-dimensional information in an XYZ coordinate system, and a second step of producing the projection path data based on the three-dimensional information that has been converted.