Ablation of UV-Transparent Materials with Femtosecond UV Excimer Laser Pulses

Abstract

ABSTRACTExperiments on the ablation of undoped polytetrafluoroethylene (teflon), monocrystalline sodium chloride (NaCl) and polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) with 300 fs uv excimer laser pulses at 248 nm are reported. In contrast to standard 16 ns excimer laser pulses, these ultrashort pulses ablate essentially uv-transparent materials, heretofore not accessible to clean ablation, with good edge quality and no signs of thermal damage, with removal rates are on the order of one micrometer per pulse.