Burst train generator of high energy femtosecond laser pulses for driving heat accumulation effect during micromachining

Abstract

A new method for generating high-repetition-rate (12.7-38.2 MHz) burst trains of femtosecond laser pulses has been demonstrated for the purpose of tailoring ultrashort laser interactions in material processing that can harness the heat accumulation effect among pulses separated by a short interval (i.e., 26 ns). Computer-controlled time delays were applied to synchronously trigger the high frequency switching of a high voltage Pockels cell to specify distinctive values of polarization rotation for each round-trip of a laser pulse cycling within a passive resonator. Polarization dependent output coupling facilitated the flexible shaping of the burst envelope profile to provide burst trains of up to ∼1 mJ of burst energy divided over a selectable number (1 to 25) of pulses. Individual pulses of variable energy up to 150 μJ and with pulse duration tunable over 70 fs to 2 ps, were applied in burst trains to generate deep and high aspect ratio holes that could not form with low-repetition-rate laser pulses.