METHOD OF TREATING A PORTION OF A SURFACE USING A SCANNING LASER BEAM

摘要

A method of treating a surface (19') of a body (19), whereby light beam pulses from a Q-switched laser (1) are fired sequentially at the surface (19') according to a surfacial pattern, the Q-switch (11) being driven in such a manner that not all the light pulses have the same duration Ep. In a particular embodiment, the light beam pulses cause localized discoloration of the surface (19'), and Ep is altered so as to achieve different shades of surface discoloration for different pulses. In another embodiment, the light beam pulses cause localized coloring of the surface (19'), and Ep is altered so as to achieve different surface colors for different pulses. In yet another embodiment, the light beam (15') is scanned over the surface (19') along a linear path (25), the surfacial velocity Vb of the beam (15') having a variable magnitude IVbI, and Ep is continually adjusted in such a manner that: a decrease in IVbI is countered by a decrease in Ep; an increase in IVbI is countered by an increase in Ep; Ep is otherwise left unaltered, so as to achieve an essentially constant laser fluence over the scanned portion (25) of the surface (19').