Glass processing using microsecond, nanosecond and femtosecond pulsed lasers

Laser processing of glass components is of significant commercial interest for the optoelectronics and telecommunications industries. In this paper, we present laser processing techniques using microsecond, nanosecond, and femtosecond lasers for machining of glass. Surface structures, mainly groove geometries, are generated with a diode-pumped solid-state nanosecond pulsed UV laser operating at 266 nm, a Q-switched CO2 laser operating at 9.25 µm, a CO2 laser operating at 10.6 µm and a femtosecond pulsed laser operating at 800 nm. Grooves are cross-sectioned and viewed with a focused ion beam (FIB) microscope. The resultant material structures are examined with respect to the differences in time scale and the appropriateness of each laser type for particular processes.