A method for separating a workpiece includes providing ultrashort laser pulses using an ultrashort pulse laser, and introducing material modifications into the workpiece along a separation line using the ultrashort laser pulses. The workpiece includes a transparent material. The method further includes separating the material of the workpiece along the separation line. The laser pulses form a laser beam that is incident onto the workpiece at a work angle. An optical aberration of the laser pulses during a transition into the material of the workpiece is reduced by an aberration correction device. The laser beam has a non-radially symmetric transverse intensity distribution, with the transverse intensity distribution appearing elongate in a direction of a first axis in comparison with a second axis perpendicular to the first axis.

A laser processing head can be used for joining (e.g., welding, brazing, soldering, etc.) workpieces. A collimator collimates laser light, which passes to a beam splitter. The beam splitter has anti-reflective and high-reflective coatings on peripheral and inner areas of the beam splitter. The beam splitter splits the collimated light into central or inner light from the inner area and peripheral light from the peripheral area. A main output in communication with the beam splitter directs at least the peripheral light into a main beam toward the workpieces. For example, a cable can feed a brazing wire adjacent the main beam for brazing the workpieces together. Meanwhile, a secondary output in communication with the beam splitter directs at least the central light into a secondary beam, which can be used to pre-heat the workpiece, post-heat the workpiece, or remove any surface coating from the workpiece.

The invention is related to fabrication of transparent materials by means of ultra-short laser pulses. Method to fabricate materials transparent in most part to laser wavelength comprises forming non-centrosymmetric, non-diffracting beam by optical element that contains at least two zones of birefringent structures changing Pancharatnam-Berry Phase according to the rule specific for that particular zone. The distribution of energy, phase and polarization depends on parameters of light approaching said element. Pulse energy is selected to employ main maximum of distribution to form voids elongated in desired direction while side maxima form changes of chemical character between damages from adjacent pulses. Void damages and zones of chemical changes form desired cut line. The workpiece prepared in said manner is placed in chemically aggressive solution, in which zones affected by laser light are dissolved much faster than non-affected ones. This enables achieving cuts with aspect ration up to 1/50.

Methods for laser bonding optical elements to substrates and optical assemblies are disclosed. According to one embodiment, a method of bonding an optical element to a substrate includes disposing at least one optical element onto a surface of the substrate, electrostatically affixing the at least one optical element to the surface of the substrate, and directing a laser beam into the at least one optical element. The laser beam heats an interface between at least one optical element and the substrate to a temperature that is higher than a lowest temperature of the optical element change temperature and the substrate change temperature, thereby forming a bond between at least one optical element and the substrate at a bond area. The laser beam has a fluence that does not modify the substrate at areas of the substrate that are outside of the at least one optical element.

A method of creating a cladded tool with a distributor including a feed mechanism and an energy source. The method includes providing a substrate and distributing particulate material from the feed mechanism onto the substrate. The particulate material includes agglomerated particles with diameters between 30 and 100 microns. The method also includes activating the energy source to produce a beam spot on the particulate material, the substrate, or both and at least partially melting the particulate material, the substrate, or both with the beam spot to form a bonded layer of particulate material on the substrate.

A method for producing at least one optically usable microstructure, in particular at least one waveguide structure, on an optical crystal is provided. The method includes irradiating a pulsed laser beam onto a surface of the optical crystal, moving the pulsed laser beam and the optical crystal relative to one another along a feed direction in order to remove material of the optical crystal along at least one ablation path in order to form the optically usable microstructure. The pulsed laser beam is irradiated onto the surface of the optical crystal with pulse durations of less than 5 ps, preferably less than 850 fs, more preferably less than 500 fs, in particular less than 300 fs, and with a wavelength of less than 570 nm, preferably less than 380 nm.

Some embodiments may include a galvanometric laser system, comprising: a laser device to generate a laser beam; an X-Y scan head module to position the laser beam on a work piece, the X-Y scan head module including a laser ingress to receive the laser beam and a laser egress to output the laser beam; a support platen located below the laser egress; an in-machine imaging system integrated with the galvanometric laser, wherein a camera of the in-machine imaging system is arranged to view a surface of an object located on the support platen using one or more optical components of the X-Y scan head module to generate assessment data associated with a calibration of the X-Y scan head module by imaging the surface of the object, wherein a calibration fiducial is located on the surface of the object.

A laser beam application unit of a laser processing machine includes a laser oscillator, a spot shaper, a polygon mirror, and a condenser. The laser oscillator emits a pulsed laser beam. The spot shaper is configured to shape a spot profile of the pulsed laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator such that the spot profile becomes long in a Y-axis direction and short in an X-axis direction. The polygon mirror disperses the spot, which has been shaped by the spot shaper, in the X-axis direction. The condenser focuses the pulsed laser beam, which has been dispersed by the polygon mirror, on a workpiece held on a chuck table.

A method for manufacturing a disk-shaped glass plate in which shape processing is performed on an edge surface of the glass plate includes processing the edge surface into a target shape by irradiating the edge surface with a laser beam while moving the laser beam relative to the edge surface in a circumferential direction of the glass plate. A cross-sectional intensity distribution of the laser beam with which the edge surface is irradiated is a single mode, and W1>Th holds true and Pd×Th is in a range of 0.8 to 3.5 [W/mm] when a width of luminous flux of the laser beam in a thickness direction of the glass plate at an irradiation position of the edge surface is W1 [mm], a thickness of the glass plate is Th [mm], and a power density of the laser beam is Pd.

A laser processing apparatus includes: a light source device configured to emit a laser beam; a laser head having a lens and being configured to converge through the lens a laser beam emitted from the light source device and to irradiate a target object with the converged laser beam; a wobbling mechanism configured to wobble a laser beam spot formed on the target object, the laser beam spot having an elliptical shape with a major axis and a minor axis; and a control device configured to control the wobbling mechanism under a wobble mode in which a first wobble frequency along the major axis direction of the laser beam spot is higher than a second wobble frequency along the minor axis direction of the laser beam spot.