Machining device and method

Abstract

The aim of the invention is to machine a material by application of non-linear radiation. The aim is achieved by modifying the laser radiation emitted by a laser beam source with the aid of a polarization modulator in such a way that laser radiation focused into the material is polarized in a linear fashion, the direction of polarization varying across the cross section of the beam.

Claims

1. A machining device which machines a material by non-linear absorption of machining pulsed laser radiation, comprising: a pulsed laser radiation source emitting the pulsed laser radiation, optics focusing the laser radiation for non-linear absorption into or onto the material where multiphoton interaction occurs; and an intensity modulator which modifies an intensity distribution of the laser radiation to have a non-gauss shaped profile, thereby attenuating radiation intensity near an optical axis of optics focusing the laser radiation.

2. The machining device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a deflecting unit which modifies a spatial position of the focus in the material by controllable deflection of the laser beam.

3. The machining device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the intensity modulator is arranged between the laser radiation source and the deflecting unit.

4. The machining device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the intensity modulator is arranged within the laser radiation source such that the laser radiation source emits the laser radiation having a polarization direction which varies across the beam cross-section or such that the laser radiation source emits the laser radiation with a modified intensity distribution.

5. The machining device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the laser radiation source emits pulsed laser radiation with a pulse duration of less than 10,000 fs.

6. The machining device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the laser radiation source emits pulsed laser radiation with a pulse duration of less than 500 fs.

7. The machining device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the intensity modulator blocks out radiation components near the optical axis.

8. The machining device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the intensity modulator effects energy distribution away from regions near the optical axis.

9. A method for machining a material, comprising: focusing pulsed laser radiation from a pulsed laser radiation source into or onto the material; selecting parameters of the laser radiation and the focusing such that a non-linear absorption with multiphoton interaction between the laser radiation and the material occurs; and modifying an intensity distribution of the laser radiation to have a non-gauss shaped profile before focusing, with radiation intensity being attenuated near the optical axis.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising shifting a position of a focus of the laser radiation at least two-dimensionally.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising modifying the intensity distribution during machining.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, further comprising determining and controlling a quality parameter of machining, with variation of the intensity distribution being used as a manipulated variable.

13. The method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising focusing the laser radiation in the vicinity of the surface of the material to be machined, with distance of a focus from a surface of the material to be machined lying approximately in the range of the Rayleigh length of the radiation.

14. The method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising forming cut surfaces in the material by areal sequential arrangement of optical breakthroughs generated by non-linear absorption, the cut surfaces being located in the material and have a cutting line extending, up to the surface of the material.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The invention will be explained in more detail below, by way of example and with reference to the drawings, wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a patient during laser-surgical treatment using a laser-surgical instrument;

(3) FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of the focusing of a ray bundle onto the patient's eye with the instrument of FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 3 shows a schematic view illustrating the cut path effected during laser-surgical treatment;

(5) FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of a first embodiment of a laser machining device for generating wave guide structures;

(6) FIG. 5 shows an example of inhomogeneously linear polarization of a laser beam according to the first embodiment comprising sectorial polarization variation;

(7) FIG. 6 shows a further example of inhomogeneously linear polarization of a laser beam according to the first embodiment with radial polarization variation;

(8) FIG. 7 shows a further example of inhomogeneously linear polarization of a laser beam according to the first embodiment with discontinuous radial polarization variation;

(9) FIG. 8 shows a top view of a polarization modulator of the first embodiment for generating processing laser radiation with inhomogenously linear polarization;

(10) FIG. 9 shows the polarization directions of the laser radiation upon application of the polarization modulator of FIG. 8;

(11) FIG. 10 shows a schematic view of a second embodiment of a laser machining device similar to FIG. 4;

(12) FIGS. 11 and 12 show different variants of a structural component which may be used in the laser machining device of FIG. 10;

(13) FIG. 13 shows beam profiles which are possible in the laser machining device of FIG. 10;

(14) FIG. 14 is a schematic drawing illustrating a further variant of the structural element of FIGS. 11 and 12;

(15) FIG. 15 is a sectional view of the structural element of FIG. 14, and

(16) FIG. 16 is a beam profile obtainable with the structural component of FIG. 15.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(17) FIG. 1 shows a laser-surgical instrument 1 emitting a treatment beam 2 which is directed onto the eye 6 of a patient. The laser-surgical instrument 1 generates a pulsed treatment beam 2 such that the method described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,166 can be carried out. The pulsed duration is in the nano- or femtosecond range.

(18) Using the laser-surgical instrument 1 a visual deficiency of the eye 6 of the patient is remedied by removing material from the cornea such that the diffractive characteristic of the cornea is changed to a desired extent. In doing so, material is removed from the stroma of the cornea, said stroma being located below the epithelium and the Bowman membrane as well as above the Decemet membrane and the endothelium.

(19) The laser-surgical instrument 1 machines a material which is actually transparent to laser radiation. The pulsed laser radiation of the treatment beam 2 is therefore irradiated such that non-linear absorption occurs in order to generate the optical breakthrough.

(20) Material removal is achieved by focusing the high-energy pulsed treatment beam 2 of the laser-surgical instrument 1 into the stroma, thereby generating optical breakthroughs. Each single optical breakthrough initiates a plasma bubble so that tissue is separated. By suitable deflection of the treatment beam 2, plasma bubbles are sequentially arranged during treatment, which bubbles then circumscribe a partial volume of the stroma, namely the material to be removed. Due to the treatment beam 2, the laser-surgical instrument 1 acts like a surgical knife which, without injuring the surface of the cornea, cuts material directly within the transparent cornea of the eye. If the cut is guided up to the surface of the cornea by further generating optical breakthroughs, the material of the stroma isolated by the cut profile can be pulled out laterally and removed from the cornea.

(21) As shown in FIG. 2, the laser-surgical instrument 2 comprises a laser source 9 whose treatment beam 2 is focused as focused laser radiation 8 into the cornea 4 of the eye 6 by means of an (adjustable) objective 3. The already mentioned plasma bubble 11 is then formed in the focus.

(22) FIG. 3 schematically shows how a cut surface is generated in the cornea 4 in order to isolate a partial volume 5. By suitable three-dimensional shifting of the focused laser beam 8, many plasma bubbles 11 are sequentially arranged in order to form a cut surface (shown in broken lines in FIG. 3). If the partial volume 5 is isolated within the cornea 8, the cut is guided up to the periphery such that material of the partial volume 5 can be pulled out in the direction of the arrow 7.

(23) The structure of a laser treatment instrument is shown in simplified form in FIG. 4 for a first embodiment, said instrument being substantially similar to the laser-surgical instrument 1, but in this case serving to form a wave guide structure 14 in a transparent material 13. A polarization modulator 10 (which, although not mentioned, is also provided in the beam path of the laser-surgical instrument 1) is arranged following the laser source 9, said polarization modulator modifying the linearly polarized radiation 2 emitted by the laser source 9 such that it has inhomogeneous linear polarization conditions.

(24) The inhomogeneous linear polarization conditions are characterized in that the polarization vector {right arrow over (P)} of the field does not have a uniform direction across the cross-section of the collimated laser beam.

(25) For physical characterization of such polarization conditions it should be noted first that for a collimated laser beam the field strength can be approximated conventionally as a planar wave. The position of the field strength vector can then be represented for linearly polarized light in any x, y coordinate system in which the wave propagates in the direction of z:
{right arrow over (E)}={E.sub.ox,E.sub.oy}expi(tkz)

(26) For simplification, the standardized polarization vector {right arrow over (P)} of the field can now be introduced, the amplitude of the field strength being determined completely by the amplitude function {square root over (E.sub.0x.sup.2+E.sub.0y.sup.2)}. Although said amplitude function drops rapidly for a Gauss beam, the following equation applies to the polarization vector, regardless of the specific amplitude distribution:

(27) $\stackrel{.fwdarw.}{P}\frac{E_{0x}{\stackrel{.fwdarw.}{e}}_x+E_{0y}{\stackrel{.fwdarw.}{e}}_y}{\sqrt{E_{0x}^2+E_{0y}^2}}$

(28) Thus, the field strength results as:
{right arrow over (E)}={square root over (E.sub.0x.sup.2+E.sub.0y.sup.2)}.Math.expi(tkz)

(29) The polarization vector is a function of x and y. If
{right arrow over (P)}={right arrow over (P)}(x,y)=const.

(30) then this is a homogeneously linearly polarized field such as that which is emitted by most lasers, for example by a helium-neon laser. If
{right arrow over (P)}={right arrow over (P)}(x,y)const.

(31) then the corresponding field of radiation is inhomogeneously linearly polarized.

(32) After an inhomogeneously linear polarization has thus been imposed on the laser radiation 2, the latter passes through a deflecting unit 12, which is symbolized here in the form of two deflecting mirrors being independently tiltable about orthogonal axes. Together with the adjustable objective 3, the focused laser beam 8 can thus be three-dimensionally shifted within the volume of the transparent material 13, thus allowing to form three-dimensional structures in the material, for example the wave guide structure 14 as shown. The pulsed laser radiation 2 emitted by the radiation source 9 is non-linearly absorbed by the material 13, thus causing a permanent change in material properties within the spatial region machined. As an alternative or in addition to the effect of the deflecting unit 12 and the adjustable objective 13, it is certainly also possible to move the object with the transparent material 13 itself relative to the objective 3. This may be of interest in particular if structures are to be generated whose extent goes at least partially beyond the positions achievable by the deflecting unit 12 or the length of adjustment of the objective 3.

(33) Due to the inhomogeneously linear polarization of the focused laser beam 8, a focus is obtained in the transparent material 13, which focus has smaller dimensions than would actually expected due to the beam path and in particular due to the objective 3. The precision of machining is thus increased. The same goes for the instrument 1 of FIG. 1.

(34) The focus reduction achieved by the polarization modulator 10 may differ according to the beam path and in particular according to the type of transparent material 13. For optimization, it is therefore conveniently envisaged that the quality of machining, for example the size of the spatial region in which a non-linear interaction is determined, is measured and an optimization is effected by varying the setting of the polarization modulator 10. For example, the size of a plasma bubble generated in the material 13 or in the cornea 4 can be measured and minimization can be effected by adjusting the polarization modulator 10 which is controlled by a control device (not shown). Alternatively, the radiation emitted by the laser source 9 can also be gradually reduced by suitable control of the polarization modulator 10 until a minimal radiation power or pulse duration is present which is still sufficient for the desired non-linear interaction.

(35) The effect of the polarization modulator 10 is shown by way of example in FIG. 5, showing an x-y section 15 through the laser beam 2 which propagates in the direction of z (perpendicular to the drawing plane). As can be seen, the polarization modulator 10 imparts to the laser beam 2 an inhomogeneous polarization distribution in such a form that two partial regions 16 and 17 are present in which the polarization direction, although being respectively identical, has a phase shift of 180 with respect to the other partial region. This is symbolized in FIG. 5 by the arrows which are parallel, but point in opposite directions. Instead of an inhomogeneity comprising two partial regions 16 and 17, it is also possible, of course, to use any other sectorial polarization.

(36) FIG. 6 shows a radial polarization distribution in the x-y section 15. The polarization directions point radially outwardly from the optical axis A.

(37) FIG. 7 shows an inhomogeneous polarization comprising phase jumps within annular portions in the x-y section 15. The phase jumps appear at jump locations 18 concentrically arranged about the optical axis A. The laser beam 2 is divided into four rings 19 having different polarization, as viewed in the x-y section 15. Between adjacent rings there is a phase jump of the polarization direction, which jump is shown as an 180 phase jump for reasons of illustration. Of course, any other phase jump is also possible.

(38) In order to form one of the inhomogeneous linear polarization conditions of FIGS. 5 to 7 the polarization modulator 10 according to a preferred alternative embodiment comprises a segmented wave plate which causes the desired polarization modulation alone or in combination with other optical components. In a further alternative embodiment, dichroic glass polarizations are provided which are designed according to the desired polarization distribution for the respective application. Also, liquid crystal components can be used, which are usually referred to as spatial light modulators (SLM) and enable flexible adaptation of the polarization distribution to a respective processing task, controlled by a corresponding adjusting signal.

(39) FIG. 8 shows a further possible design of a polarization modulator 10 as known for a completely different application from EP 0,764,858 A2, whose disclosure is fully incorporated herein by reference. It refers to a honeycomb condenser 20 comprising a multiplicity of honeycomb-shaped cells 21. The cross-section of the laser beam 2 is thus divided into a multiplicity of facets 21. Each facet 21 consist of a half-wave plate of birefringent material and is oriented, for example, according to the pattern shown in FIG. 8. Therefore, they are each oriented in the direction of the angle bisector between the polarization direction P, also shown in FIG. 8, of the incident linearly polarized laser radiation 2 and the respective radius, oriented towards the optical axis A, through the center of each facets 21. Thus, each half-wave plate facet 21 effects rotation of the polarization direction in the direction of the aforementioned radius.

(40) FIG. 9 shows the effect of this arrangement of the main axes 22 of the facets 21 of the honeycomb condenser 20, due to the polarization directions 23 being radially aligned with the optical axis A after passage.

(41) FIG. 10 is a simplified view of a second embodiment of a design for a laser processing instrument 1 which is essentially similar to that of FIG. 4. The difference in design concerns the modulator arranged following the laser source 9, which modulator is provided as an intensity modulator 24 here. The remaining elements correspond to those already explained for the first embodiment, so that their description is not repeated here.

(42) The intensity modulator 24 modifies the beam profile of the treatment beam 2 such that the radiation intensity near the optical axis is attenuated. Therefore, the intensity modulator 24 is located in a plane conjugated with the focal plane in the construction shown in FIG. 10. The intensity modulator 24 employs a modulating element 25 for which two possible constructions are shown in FIGS. 11 and 12.

(43) The element 25 in the construction of FIG. 11 is formed from a transparent substrate 26 onto which a circular stop element 27 is applied here. The stop element 27 has a diameter D, which covers, for example, 50% of the beam cross-section of the treatment beam 2. Instead of a covering stop element 27 use can also be made of an absorbing element 27 attenuating, but not shading, the treatment laser beam 2 in the core region indicated by hatching.

(44) The same result is obtained with the construction of the element 25 shown in FIG. 12; however, this variant 27 works reflectively. For this purpose, a mirror coating 28 is provided, which is transparent or partially transparent in a circular region 29 within the beam cross-section.

(45) Those radiation components passing through the region 29 are separated from the treatment beam 2 and only the reflected components are bundled in the focus. Instead of being fully transparent, the circular region 29 may also be partially reflective, which again results in attenuation in the core region of the treatment laser beam 2.

(46) An exemplary result for the beam profile obtainable with the element 25 is shown in FIG. 13. The initially Gauss-shaped profile 30, plotted as the intensity I against the location x in the left-hand graph of FIG. 13, is deformed by the effect of the intensity modulator 24 to a profile 31 which is considerably attenuated at the center with a diameter B. It should be noted that the illustrations of the left-hand graph and the right-hand graph of FIG. 13 do not have the same scale on the intensity axis; the right-hand graph is enlarged in terms of intensity so as to make the effect clear.

(47) As a result, the treatment beam 2 is no longer Gauss-shaped in profile after the intensity modulator 24, which likewise leads to an improved quality of focus as does the polarization modulation already explained with respect to the first embodiment.

(48) A further possibility of realizing the intensity modulator 24 is shown in FIGS. 14-16. In this case, a Powell asphere 33 is provided on a substrate 32 in the intensity modulator 24, which asphere spreads the treatment beam 2 with a Gauss-shaped profile out in a certain manner such that a diverging ray bundle 34 forms. As the representation of exemplary partial beams in FIG. 14 clearly shows, the Powell asphere 33 causes an energy re-distribution away from the optical axis. Following a converging lens (not shown in FIG. 14 for simplification) and/or a diffractive optical element, the treatment beam 2 is then present with a non-Gauss-shaped profile. An example of the achievable profile is shown in FIG. 16. As can be seen, the intensity I of the modified treatment beam 2 is distributed in a near-rectangular profile 37 across the beam cross-section.

(49) The effect of the Powell asphere 33 is primarily due to its cone shape, as viewed in cross-section. FIG. 15 shows this cone 35. The point of the cone 35 is rounded off at a certain radius 36. Details concerning the construction and design of the Powell asphere 33 are found in the already mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,299.

(50) In a further advanced embodiment, the instrument 1 may use both a polarization modulator 10 according to one of the described constructions and an intensity modulator 24 in one of the described constructions. Conveniently, the polarization modulator may also realize an amplitude modulation at the same time. For this purpose, the rings 19 of FIG. 7 or the cells of facets 21 of FIG. 8 may be provided, for example, with suitable radiation intensity-influencing properties, so that the radiation intensity at the center of the beam is attenuated. A combination of the polarization modulator 10 with the intensity modulator 24 in one component leads to a particularly compact design. A combination of a separate polarization modulator 10 with an individual intensity modulator 24, on the other hand, can be realized at comparatively low cost.