LASER PROCESSING APPARATUS, LASER PROCESSING METHOD AND DISTANCE MEASUREMENT METHOD

摘要

According to an embodiment, a laser processing apparatus (100) has: a laser light source (11); a light collector (12); a water nozzle (5); a sound sensor (10); a timer; and a distance calculator. The light collector (12) collects the laser light (11a) on a workpiece. The water nozzle (5) supplies a water stream to a surface to be treated of the workpiece. The sound sensor (10) is provided at a predetermined position relative to at least one of the water nozzle (5) and the light collector (12), and receives a sound coming from the surface to be treated. The timer detects a detected time width from a reference time point to a time point when the sound sensor (10) receives the sound. The distance calculator calculates a distance from one of the water nozzle (5) and the light collector (12) to the surface to be processed.