There is provided a laser processing apparatus that processes a workpiece by irradiation with a laser beam. The laser processing apparatus includes a holding unit including a holding surface that holds the workpiece and a laser irradiation unit that irradiates the workpiece held by the holding unit with the laser beam. The laser irradiation unit includes a laser oscillator, a collecting lens that focuses the laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator, and a foreign matter adhesion preventing unit that prevents adhesion of a foreign matter to the collecting lens.

An additive manufacturing system can include at least one laser source and a speckle reduction system that receives light from the at least one laser source. The speckle reduction system provides laser light to an optical homogenizer that increases uniformity of laser light and can provide the light to an area patterning system.

A laser soldering system includes a laser source module, a polarization adjusting assembly, a temperature sensor, and a controller. The laser source module is configured to emit a laser beam. The polarization adjusting assembly includes a plurality of polarization elements and at least one stepping motor. The polarization elements are configured to split the laser beam into a Gaussian beam and a ring-shaped beam. The Gaussian beam illuminates the first element, and the ring-shaped beam is illuminates the second element. The stepping motor is configured to adjust a size of the ring-shaped beam. The temperature sensor is configured to monitor temperatures of the first element and a temperature of the second element. The controller is electrically connected to the temperature sensor, the laser source module, and the polarization adjusting assembly.

A laser processing head directs laser energy along an optical axis from a fiber to perform brazing or welding operations. A collimating stage collimates a diverging beam of the laser energy from the fiber into a collimated beam, and a focusing stage focuses the collimated beam into a converging beam to a focus spot for the desired operation. At least one of the stages has a changeable effective focal length for zoom functionality. A freeform refractive optic can be positioned in at least one of the diverging and collimated beams. For example, a freeform refractive optic in a first position is placed out of the diverging beam. However, the freeform refractive optic in a second position placed in the diverging beam can field map or intensity map the diverging beam to produce the mapped diverging beam, which increases an image of the fiber tip to the collimating stage.

The present invention discloses a laser scribing device that produces optimal scribing lines within a target substrate based on its thickness. This is accomplished by generating multiple or an optimum number of focal points, and dynamically adjusting the focal lengths of the focal points to create optimal distances between the scribing lines. The resulting scribing lines are efficient in breaking the target substrate. The position of the focal points and the distance between them are determined based on the thickness of the target substrate, and the distance between focal points or scribing lines can be dynamically adjusted by modifying the focal lengths of the focal points.

A laser ablation device includes: a laser irradiation part to emit a plurality of solid-state laser beams; an optical system to convert the plurality of solid-state laser beams into output light; and a stage to receive an irradiation target to be irradiated with the output light. A minor axis of the output light has a semi-super Gaussian profile of order 2 to order 2.4.

A beam positioner can be broadly characterized as including a first acousto-optic (AO) deflector (AOD) operative to diffract an incident beam of linearly polarized laser light, wherein the first AOD has a first diffraction axis and wherein the first AOD is oriented such that the first diffraction axis has a predetermined spatial relationship with the plane of polarization of the linearly polarized laser light. The beam positioner can include at least one phase-shifting reflector arranged within a beam path along which light is propagatable from the first AOD. The at least one phase-shifting reflector can be configured and oriented to rotate the plane of polarization of light diffracted by the first AOD.

An optical unit fora laser beam for laser machining of a workpiece is disclosed. With particular application to a laser beam, the optical unit may be applied to a high-power laser beam and comprise an optical element for the optical imaging of the laser beam, and two protective glasses that are transparent for the laser beam, the outer edges of which protective glasses being enclosed in an airtight manner by a holder in such a way that they form an interior space with the holder, the optical element also being arranged in the interior space. A laser machining device is also disclosed.

A waterjet-guided laser machine includes a laser source, an LED, a waterjet head, and a light sensor. The waterjet head includes a water inlet and a nozzle having an outlet for a discharging a waterjet. There is a laser optical path along which a pulsed laser beam travels to the nozzle outlet. There is also a light beam optical delivery path along which the light beam travels from the LED to the nozzle outlet. The light beam optical delivery path is coincident with the laser optical path in the nozzle. There is a light beam optical return path along which the light beam that is reflected off of a workpiece travels to the light sensor. The light beam optical return path is coincident with the laser optical path inside the nozzle and coincident with the light beam optical delivery path inside the nozzle.

A peeling layer is formed in a workpiece in a state in which a laser beam is condensed so as to have a larger length along an indexing feed direction than a length along a processing feed direction. In this case, cracks included in the peeling layer extend along the indexing feed direction easily. It is consequently possible to increase a relative moving distance (index) between a place where the laser beam is condensed and the workpiece in an indexing feed step. As a result, it is possible to improve the throughput of a substrate manufacturing method using the laser beam.