Flexible, fast, and benchmarked vectorial model for focused laser beams.

In-bulk processing of materials by laser radiation has largely evolved over the last decades and still opens up new scientific and industrial potentials. The development of any in-bulk processing application relies on the knowledge of laser propagation and especially the volumetric field distribution near the focus. Many commercial programs can simulate this, but, to adapt them, or to develop new methods, one usually must create a specific software. Besides, most of the time people also need to measure the actual field distribution near the focus to evaluate their assumptions in the simulation. To easily get access to this knowledge, we present our high-precision field distribution measuring method and release our in-house software InFocus [https://github.com/QF06/InFocus], under the Creative Commons 4.0 license. Our measurements provide 300 nm longitudinal resolution and diffraction limited lateral resolution. The in-house software allows fast vectorial analysis of the focused volumetric field distribution in bulk. Simulations of the linear propagation of light under different conditions (focusing optics, wavelength, spatial shape, and propagation medium) are in excellent agreement with propagation imaging experiments. The aberrations provoked by the refractive index mismatch as well as those induced by the focusing optics are both taken into account. The results indicate that our proposed model is suitable for the precise evaluation of energy deposition.

Reproducible process regimes during glass welding by bursts of subpicosecond laser pulses.

During welding of glass with ultrafast lasers, an irregular formation of weld seams was prevented by modulation of the average laser power and spatial beam shaping. The formation of individual molten volumes in regular intervals was achieved by means of power modulation, resulting in a predictable and reproducible weld seam with a regular structure. At constant average power, a homogeneous weld seam without a periodic signature was alternatively achieved by means of a shaped beam generating an elongated interaction volume and resulting in a continuous melting of the material. The influence of the two approaches, and their combination on the process dynamics, was analyzed by means of high-speed videos of the plasma emission and of the formation of the seams.

Process regimes during welding of glass by femtosecond laser pulse bursts.

Various process regimes were observed during microwelding of glass with bursts of ultrashort laser pulses. Two major welding regimes and various subregimes were identified for two different materials. The radiation emitted by the laser-induced plasma was used to monitor different regimes that characterize glass microwelding. A comprehensive understanding of the various process regimes can be exploited to use the regimes according to their specific advantages, especially for industrial applications.