Introductory Remarks about Laser Processing

The interaction between a laser beam and a material is determined by the wavelength emitted by the laser, its fluence or energy density si and whether or not the laser emits continuous (cw) or pulsed beams, the pulse duration, repetition rate and pulse energy and also of course by the material s properties, such as its absorption characteristics, which is governed by the physical material parameters and structure (bindings) of the material. The lasers tabulated in Table 8.1 are most commonly used to process glasses. 

Lasers are used to polish, cut, etch, inscribe, decorate and engrave glasses, and also to find applications in microstructuring of glasses. In the context of the book the application of lasers for microstructuring of glasses is of most interest and, therefore, the other processes will only be briefly discussed. 

During laser polishing thin layers are ablated to smooth a glass surface. Lasers are often used to polish fused silica glass parts [494] and to cut glasses [290]. 

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