MICROMACHINING WITH HIGH-ENERGY, INTRA-CAVITY Q-SWITCHED CO2 LASER PULSES

摘要

An EOM Q-switched carbon dioxide laser (36) produces bursts of laser pulses (80) delivered at a high PRF such as 20-140 kHz and having a short high-power spike of about 80-150 nanoseconds followed by a low-power tail of about 0.05-12.0 microseconds. The bursts and/or laser pulses (80) can be shaped by controlling the RF pumping duty cycle, the delay between the onset of RF pumping and the initiation of Q-switching, the pulse repetition frequency, and/or the duration of the tail.