Investigation on repetition rate and pulse duration influences on ablation efficiency of metals using a high average power Yb-doped ultrafast laser

Abstract

Ultrafast lasers provide an outstanding processing quality but their main drawback is the low removal rate per pulse compared to longer pulses. This limitation could be overcome by increasing both average power and repetition rate. In this paper, we report on the influence of high repetition rate and pulse duration on both ablation efficiency and processing quality on metals. All trials have been performed with a single tunable ultrafast laser (350 fs to 10ps). © Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2013.