A system for and a method of processing a transparent material, such as glass, using an adjustable laser beam line focus are disclosed. The system for processing a transparent material includes a laser source operable to emit a pulsed laser beam, and an optical assembly (6′) disposed within an optical path of the pulsed laser beam. The optical assembly (6′) is configured to transform the pulsed laser beam into a laser beam focal line having an adjustable length and an adjustable diameter. At least a portion of the laser beam focal line is operable to be positioned within a bulk of the transparent material such that the laser beam focal line produces a material modification along the laser beam focal line. Method of laser processing a transparent material by adjusting at least one of the length of the laser beam focal line and the diameter of the laser beam focal line is also disclosed.

A method for producing a cavity in a substrate composed of hard brittle material is provided. A laser beam of an ultrashort pulse laser is directed a side surface of the substrate and is concentrated by a focusing optical unit to form an elongated focus in the substrate. Incident energy of the laser beam produces a filament-shaped flaw in a volume of the substrate. The filament-shaped flaw extends into the volume to a predetermined depth and does not pass through the substrate. To produce the filament-shaped flaw, the ultrashort pulse laser radiates in a pulse or a pulse packet having at least two successive laser pulses. After at least two filament-shaped flaws are introduced, the substrate is exposed to an etching medium which removes material of the substrate and widens the at least two filament-shaped flaws to form filaments. At least two filaments are connected to form a cavity.

An edge position detecting apparatus for detecting a position of an edge of a disk-shaped workpiece includes a chuck table having a holding surface for holding the workpiece thereon, a laser displacement gage having a laser applying unit including a light source, for applying a linear laser beam shaped into a linear shape perpendicular to a direction of travel from the light source toward the holding surface, across the edge of the workpiece, and a beam detecting unit including a plurality of photoelectric transducers arrayed at predetermined spaced intervals along a direction for detecting a reflection of the linear laser beam, a moving mechanism for moving the laser displacement gage and the chuck table relatively to each other along the longitudinal direction, and a calculating unit for calculating the position of the edge on the basis of information of a change in an amount of the detected reflection.

A laser system is configured for providing a laser line in a working plane for line illumination of an object. The laser line extends in a first direction over a significant length and in a second direction over a small extent. The laser system comprises a laser source for providing a laser beam as basis for an elongated input laser beam propagating along a propagation direction, and a homogenization and focussing unit for homogenizing the elongated laser beam to form the laser line. The laser system is in particular suitable for providing a laser line that can be stitched to another laser line of a respective further laser system.

A laser irradiation apparatus (1) according to one embodiment irradiates a workpiece (16) with a laser beam (15) while conveying the workpiece (16) caused to float with the use of a flotation unit (10). The flotation unit (10) includes precision float regions (11a, 11b) and rough float regions (13a to 13j). The precision float regions (11a, 11b) are configured to cause the workpiece (16) to float by utilizing ejection and suction of a gas, and the rough float regions are configured to cause the workpiece (16) to float by utilizing ejection of a gas without suction of a gas.

A laser processing apparatus and a stack processing apparatus are provided. The laser processing apparatus includes a laser oscillator and an optical system for forming a linear beam and an x-y-θ or x-θ stage. With use of the x-y-θ or x-θ stage, the object to be processed can be moved and rotated in the horizontal direction. With this operation, a desired region of the object to be processed can be efficiently irradiated with laser light, and the area occupied by a chamber provided with the x-y-θ or x-θ stage can be made small.

The linear groove formation method includes a resist forming process of forming a coated resist on a surface of a steel sheet, a laser irradiating process of irradiating laser beams onto the steel sheet while repeating a laser scanning in a direction intersecting a rolling direction of the steel sheet cyclically in the rolling direction of the steel sheet to remove the coated resist in portions irradiated with the laser beams, and an etching process of forming linear grooves by etching portions of the steel sheet from which the coated resist is removed. In the laser irradiating process, the coated resist is removed by using two or more laser irradiating devices, with a certain irradiation energy, a certain beam diameter in a direction perpendicular to a laser scanning direction, and a certain incidence angle with respect to the surface of the steel sheet.

A method for laser material processing includes generating a first pulsed laser beam that forms a first focus zone, and processing the material with the first pulsed laser beam in order to produce first modifications. The first modifications form a shielding surface. The method further includes generating a second pulsed laser beam that forms a second focus zone, which is formed in elongated fashion along a second focus zone axis and is formed by constructive interference of laser radiation that passes at an angle toward the second focus zone axis. The method further includes processing the material with the second pulsed laser beam to produce second modifications in a second section of the material. At least one part of the laser radiation passes at the angle toward the second focus zone axis impinges on the shielding surface.

A glass plate processing method for dividing a glass plate by a separation line that divides a main surface of the glass plate into two regions, includes: moving an irradiation point of a first laser beam along the separation line, and forming a crack extending from the separation line diagonally with respect to the main surface, in a cross-section orthogonal to the separation line; after the crack is formed, moving an irradiation point of a second laser beam along the separation line, and forming a modified portion, in the cross-section, on a virtual line extending in a direction perpendicular to the main surface, from a tip of the crack towards a center of a thickness of the glass plate; and after the modified portion is formed, applying stress to the glass plate and forming a new crack spanning from the tip of the crack to the modified portion.

A laser system is configured for providing a laser line (L) in a working plane (WP) for line illumination of an object. The laser line (L) extends in a first direction (x) over a significant length and in a second direction (y) over a small extent. The laser system includes a laser source for providing a laser beam as basis for an elongated input laser beam propagating along a propagation direction (z), and a homogenization and focusing unit for homogenizing the elongated laser beam to form the laser line (L). The laser system is, for example, suitable for providing a laser line (L) that can be stitched to another laser line (L′) of another laser system.