Ablation of Lithium Niobate with Pico‐ and Nanosecond Lasers

Abstract

A comparison between picosecond and nanosecond laser sources for the ablation of the technically interesting lithium niobate will be presented in this article. We investigated the influence of the used wavelength and pulse duration on the quality and the possibility to generate thinnest membranes under industrial conditions. It was possible to get structures of few mm2 with a membrane thickness smaller than 50 μm. Using different laser sources we could reduce the processing time with the same quality as before. We also investigated the heat affected zone by using pico‐ and nanosecond laser sources with a transmission electron microscope. This way, it was possible to see the expansion of thermal deformation in the solid material. With these basic research results, some interesting applications in the field of sensors, nozzle drilling and optical elements could be generated.