The present invention relates to ultrafast laser inscribed structures for signal concentration in focal plan arrays, focal plan arrays, imaging and/or sensing apparatuses comprising said focal plan arrays, as well as methods of making and/or using ultrafast laser inscribed structures for signal concentration in focal plan arrays, focal plan arrays, imaging and/or sensing apparatuses comprising said focal plan arrays. Such ultrafast laser inscribed structures are particularly adapted to condense broad band radiation, thus allowing increased sensing efficiencies to be obtained from imaging and/or sensing apparatuses. Such ultrafast laser inscribed structures can be efficiently produced by the processes provided herein.

A method of laser processing of a metallic material is described, by means of a focused laser beam having a predetermined transverse power distribution on at least one working plane of the metallic material, comprising the steps of: providing a laser beam emitting source; leading the laser beam along a beam transport optical path to a working head arranged in proximity to the material; collimating the laser beam along an optical axis of propagation incident on the material; focusing the collimated laser beam in an area of a working plane of the material; and conducting the focused laser beam along a working path on the metallic material comprising a succession of working areas, wherein the laser beam is shaped: by reflecting the collimated beam by means of a deformable, controlled surface reflecting element having a plurality of independently movable reflection areas, and by controlling the arrangement of the reflection areas to establish a predetermined transverse power distribution of the beam on at least one working plane of the metallic material as a function of the area of the current working plane and/or of the current direction of the working path on the metallic material.

A method of laser processing of a metallic material is described by means of a focused laser beam having a predetermined transverse power distribution on at least one working plane of the material, comprising the steps of: providing a laser beam emitting source; leading the laser beam along a beam transport optical path to a working head arranged in proximity to the material; collimating the laser beam along an optical axis of propagation incident on the material; focusing the collimated laser beam in an area of a working plane of the material; and conducting the focused laser beam along a working path on the metallic material comprising a succession of working areas, wherein the laser beam is shaped: by reflecting the collimated beam by means of a deformable controlled surface reflecting element having a plurality of independently movable reflection areas, and by controlling the arrangement of the reflection areas to establish a predetermined transverse power distribution of the beam on at least one working plane of the metallic material as a function of the area of the current working plane and/or of the current direction of the working path on the metallic material.

A method of laser welding a workpiece stack-up that includes at least two overlapping metal workpieces is disclosed. The method includes advancing a beam spot of a laser beam relative to a top surface of the workpiece stack-up and along a beam travel pattern to form a laser weld joint, which is comprised of resolodified composite metal workpiece material, that fusion welds the metal workpieces together. And, while the beam spot is being advanced along the beam travel pattern, between a first point and a second point, which may or may not encompass the entire beam travel pattern, at least one of the following laser beam parameters is repeatedly varied: (1) the power level of the laser beam; (2) the travel speed of the laser beam; or (3) the focal position of the laser beam relative to the top surface of the workpiece stack-up.

A method for laser welding two coated workpieces includes positioning an upper workpiece and a lower workpiece on top of each other and passing a first laser beam over the upper and lower workpieces from a side of the upper workpiece so as to at least partially evaporate the respective coating of each of the workpieces on their facing sides along a depletion trace. A second laser beam is passed over the workpieces from the side of the upper workpiece so as to melt a material of the two workpieces within the depletion trace, and thereby weld the workpieces to one another. In the first laser passing, the first laser beam melts the material of the upper workpiece, so that a web of non-melted material of the upper workpiece remaining between the melted material of the upper workpiece and the facing side of the upper workpiece.

A system includes an orientation determination system comprising a camera where the camera is configured to capture an image of an orientation feature of a physical dental model of a dental arch of a customer with material thermoformed thereon. The orientation determination system is configured to identify an offset of the physical dental model with respect to a fixture plate during positioning or before or after the physical dental model is positioned on the fixture plate by determining an actual orientation of the physical dental model based on the orientation feature. The system also includes a laser trimming system configured to cut the material along a trim line based on the identified offset while the fixture plate is moved about at least two axes to produce a dental aligner specific to the customer and being configured to reposition one or more teeth of the customer.

A method of forming a build in a powder bed includes providing a first diode laser fiber array and a second diode laser fiber array, emitting a plurality of laser beams from selected fibers of the second diode laser fiber array onto the powder bed, corresponding to a pattern of a layer of the build, simultaneously melting powder in the powder bed corresponding to the pattern of the layer of the build, scanning a first diode laser fiber array along an outer boundary of the powder bed and emitting a plurality of laser beams from selected fibers of the first diode laser fiber array and simultaneously melting powder in the powder bed corresponding to the outer boundary of the layer of the build to contour the layer of the build. An apparatus for forming a build in a powder bed including a first diode laser fiber array and a second diode laser fiber array is also disclosed. The first diode laser fiber array configured to contour the layer of the build.

A system for welding a first component to a second component. The system includes a first laser head configured to emit a first laser beam and be movably disposable on a first side of the first component. The system further includes a second laser head configured to emit a second laser beam and be movably disposable on an opposing second side of the first component. The system further includes a controller configured to independently control a first power of the first laser beam and a second power of the second laser beam. The controller is also configured to independently and simultaneously control movement of the first laser head and movement of the second laser head relative to the first component.

A welding method includes: emitting a laser beam to a workpiece including a metal; and welding a portion of the workpiece to which the laser beam is emitted by melting. The laser beam includes a main power region and at least one auxiliary power region, power in the main power region is equal to or higher than power in each of the at least one auxiliary power region, and a power ratio of the power in the main power region and a total of the power in the at least one auxiliary power region is within a range of 144:1 to 1:1.

Beam splitter (23) is provided with AR coating (24). AR coating (24) has a first reflectance for reflecting a first laser light higher than a second reflectance for reflecting a second laser light. Detector (25) detects reflection light (RL) reflected by beam splitter (23). Detector (25) has a first light receiving sensitivity for receiving the first laser light lower than a second light receiving sensitivity for receiving the second laser light.