PHYSICAL AND MATERIAL ASPECTS IN USING VISIBLE LASER-PULSES OF NANOSECOND DURATION FOR ABLATION

Interaction phenomena of 50 ns copper vapour laser pulses (lambda = 51 1/578 nm) with matter are investigated. The basic ablation process is classified into four fundamental classes. On basis of this classificat ion processing results are connected with specific material properties like the brittleness, the viscosity of the melt or the optical proper ties. Knowing these properties a prognosis of the expected fundamental process is possible. In order to generate a geometrically defined str ucture via ablation in a given material-specific process, strategies h ave to be developed. Typical examples for process strategies are given .