Overview of ultrafast laser processes

Laser processes

Micro-processing with ultrashort pulse lasers

The ultrashort pulse laser tool

Ultrashort pulse lasers emit their radiation in pulses with pulse durations ranging from 1 picosecond to a few 100 femtoseconds. Thanks to the concentration of the laser beam's energy in such ultrashort pulses, extremely high peak pulse powers are achieved, which allow direct vaporisation of the material to be processed. A number of ablative machining processes are possible with this process principle. Find out more about the different laser processes on our page and let yourself be inspired!

The advantages of material processing with the ultrashort pulse laser are:

High precision. Thanks to their good beam quality, ultrashort pulse lasers can be focused well on the smallest diameters. This means that contours down to 20 µm can be processed cleanly with tolerances in the micrometre range.

High quality thanks to minimal heat input. With the right process parameters, the heat input into the material remains minimal and quality-reducing effects such as melting, burr formation, bulges or roughening of the surface are avoided. This enables high-quality material processing with tolerances of a few µm.

Force-free machining. As a non-contact tool, the laser processes material virtually without force. This means that even very thin materials can be processed reliably and precisely. Even the processing of foils with a thickness of a few 10 µm is possible.

High flexibility. Thanks to the force-free and instantaneous access, the spatially and temporally precise energy input as well as the good accessibility (distance workpiece to processing optics > 50 mm), the ultrashort pulse laser offers a high degree of flexibility with regard to the materials that can be processed, the geometries that can be generated and the processes that can be realised.

These properties make the ultrashort pulse laser an excellent tool for micro material processing. Some application examples can be found on our application page. For more information on the processes that are possible with the ultrashort pulse laser, click on the corresponding images: