Over 1kHz reconfiguration of computer-generated holograms (CGHs) was implemented with a ferroelectric liquidcrystal- on-silicon spatial light modulator (FLCoS-SLM). The high-framerate reconstructions were performed on the 6.3 kHz pulse-to-pulse spatial light modulation. The reconfiguration speed will drastically change the applicability to science and industrial fields and open a door for new CGH applications. In this research, it was applied to parallel femtosecond laser material processing.
Holographic beam shaping that is performed with a computer-generated hologram displayed on a spatial light modulator is very useful for many kinds of scientific and engineered applications. The temporal and spatial stabilization is indispensable for them, especially, for the material laser processing, because it requires a high-quality beam in short and long terms. In our research, the stabilization is performed with an observation of the intensity distribution that is easily detected by simple optics and an ordinary imager. The reconstruction of the computer-generated hologram is iteratively optimized according to the holographic reconstruction on the Fourier space. The performance of the beam shaping is estimated under the application of laser processing of glass.
Adaptive optics for compensating for wavefront aberrations have been reported in astronomy, optical coherence tomography, microscope imaging, and laser material processing because the aberrations cause focal spot distortion leading to loss of resolution and efficiency in these applications. In adaptive optics, wavefront sensing is important. Several approaches for wavefront sensing have been demonstrated, such as a Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor, shearing interferometry, the Transport-of-Intensity Equation (TIE), and iterative algorithms for phase retrieval. In this presentation, femtosecond laser processing with aberration compensation based on machine learning was demonstrated. The aberrations existing in the laser processing were continuously predicted by the trained neural network with an update period of 36 ms and were compensated by a spatial light modulator. In the experiment, the neural network-based adaptive optics reduced the wavefront error in the laser processing to most one-ninth. Therefore, the adaptive optics improved the resolution in laser processing.
Holographic optical engine composed of a spatial light modulator (SLM), imagers, relay optics, and a control computer offers an easy installation and easy use for industrial uses of the laser processing with beam shaping.
A holographic technique is useful for increasing the processing speed in laser grooving and scribing. In laser grooving, depth control of the processed structure is important for performing precise processing. In this paper, in-process monitoring of the depth of a structure formed by femtosecond laser processing with a line-shaped beam using sweptsource optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) was demonstrated. In laser grooving, the structural depth and the shape were successfully monitored. The proposed method will be effective for precise laser processing with feedback control of the laser parameters based on in-process monitoring of the processed structure.
A new scheme for optimizing a computer-generated hologram (CGH) in holographic laser processing system is proposed. The CGH that generates two- and three-dimensionally arranged focusing spots is optimized during laser processing. The scheme called as an in-system optimization has the potential to compensate for static imperfections and dynamic changes of the laser processing system by the rewritable capability of a liquid crystal on silicon spatial light modulator (LCOS-SLM).
We proposed an optimization method of a hologram in holographic laser processing. The laser beam was diffracted by a
designed computer-generated hologram (CGH) displayed on a liquid-crystal-on-silicon (SLM), and then formed
spatially shaped three-dimensional optical pattern which detected by a CCD image sensor at different focal position for
continuously optimizing with the weighted iterative Fourier transform (WIFT) algorithm. The uniformity of the pattern
was increased from 11% to 95%, which was also well proved by the corresponding 3D processing results. This method
provides the holographic laser processing system with high-stability, that is, the ability to dynamically compensate for
system imperfections, and has the ability to be suitable for a wide range of high-precision, high-throughput applications
in the field of 3D manufacturing.
A method that realizes the three-dimensional holographic laser reconstruction and processing by using an optimized computer-generated hologram (CGH) was demonstrated. A pre-designed CGH that contains three-dimensional (3D) information displayed on a liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator (LCOS-SLM) can obtain the desired 3D diffraction pattern in the optical system, called 3D holographic laser reconstruction, and when it is reduced by an objective lens and incident on a sample, it can realize the 3D holographic laser processing. Using an optimization method, called in-system optimization, to compensate for the imperfections that exist in the actual laser system, and obtain the high-quality CGH. Consequently, a high uniformity 3D holographic laser reconstruction was achieved, and the consistent scale of the corresponding processing holes proved the feasibility and significance of the CGH optimization.
We proposed a holographic laser processing system with the combination of femtosecond laser and the in-system optimization. Femtosecond laser processing that employ a computer-generated hologram (CGH) displayed on a liquid-crystal-on-silicon spatial light modulator (LCOS-SLM), called holographic femtosecond laser processing (HFLP). Due to the inherent aberrations of the actual optical system, the diffraction peaks of holographic femtosecond laser processing has non-uniformity. To overcome this problem, we demonstrated a method called in-system optimization that optimizing the uniformity of the diffraction peaks while conducting the laser processing simultaneously. By taking advantage of the rewritable capability of the LCOS-SLM, with finite times of iteration perform of the in-system optimization, we obtained uniform peaks of 0.96, when the maximum intensity at the peaks of the diffraction spots was normalized to 1.0. Make use of this system, we realized the high efficiency and uniformity of laser processing, and made compensation for part of the inherent aberration in the optical system. In particular, we believe it can not only effectively avoid the impact of environmental factors on the processing system and will greatly improve the processing efficiency and stability, in the meanwhile, it will be widely applied for precise laser processing in the future.
Holographic line-shaped femtosecond processing was developed for large-area machining. It can be performed with high throughput in laser cutting, peeling, grooving, and cleaning of materials. We demonstrated the single-shot fabrication of a line structure in a glass surface using a line-shaped pulse generated by a holographic cylindrical lens displayed on a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator, a line-shaped beam deformed three-dimensionally for showing the potential of holographic line-shaped beam processing, laser peeling of an indium tin oxide film, in-process laser cleaning of debris on the surface of a fabricating sample, and laser grooving of stainless steel.
Arbitrary and variable beam shaping of femtosecond pulses by a computer-generated hologram (CGH) displayed on a spatial light modulator (SLM) have been applied to femtosecond laser processing. The holographic femtosecond laser processing has been widely used in many applications such as two-photon polymerization, optical waveguide fabrication, fabrication of volume phase gratings in polymers, and surface nanostructuring. A vector wave that has a spatial distribution of polarization states control of femtosecond pulses gives good performances for the femtosecond laser processing. In this paper, an in- system optimization of a CGH for massively-parallel femtosecond laser processing, a dynamic control of spatial spectral dispersion to improve the focal spot shape, and the holographic vector-wave femtosecond laser processing are demonstrated.
Holographic femtosecond laser processing is very useful for high-speed processing with low-loss of light. One of
important subjects is to design a computer-generated hologram (CGH) with good performance in the processing system.
We have proposed a CGH is optimized in the processing system. The latest method is the SH optimization method based
on parallel SH generation. The SH method automatically incorporates the pulse duration and spatial beam profile into the
CGH, and therefore gives high quality parallel laser processing. Because of the enhanced processing accuracy, smaller
structures are processed with the smallest energy. We demonstrate the 18 parallel laser pulses performs the parallel
processing on a glass surface with the average diameter of 271nm under the average fluence of 0.88 J/cm2.
In holographic femtosecond laser processing, a precise control of the diffraction peaks generated by a computergenerated
hologram (CGH) displayed on a liquid crystal spatial light modulator is very important. We developed some
design methods of the CGH. We developed a method that the CGH was optimized with based on an optical measurement
of the diffraction peak intensities. Recently we also developed the second harmonic optimization based on the second
harmonic generations induced by parallel femtosecond laser pulses. In our presentation, our recent progresses of the
CGH optimization for holographic femtosecond laser processing are demonstrated.
We propose a holographic spatiotemporal lens to improve spatial resolution of two-photon excitation spot as a new
focusing technique of femtosecond laser pulse. Femtosecond laser pulses dispersed by a diffraction grating are irradiated
to a chirped diffractive lens displayed on a spatial light modulator. The chirped diffractive lens has a spatially chirp of
focal length for a design for its corresponding wavelength. The shortest pulse was experimentally obtained only at the
focal plane. The pulse duration was also supported with a computer simulation.
Precise control of diffraction peaks of a hologram is indispensable in holographic femtosecond laser processing. To
obtain the uniform diffraction peaks, an adaptive optimization due to the diffraction peaks measured by an image sensor
was proposed. It used a one-photon absorption. However, the structure processed by a femtosecond laser pulse was based
on multi-photon absorptions. Therefore, a mismatch between the optimized diffraction peaks and the processed
structures was observed. An adaptive optimization method using second harmonics induced by parallel pulse irradiations
to a nonlinear optical crystal is proposed to solve this mismatch.
Femtosecond laser processing acquires futures of high throughput and high light-use efficiency by using a computer-generated
hologram. In the holographic femtosecond laser processing, a precise control of diffraction peaks is
indispensable to fabricate enormous numbers of nanometer-scale structures simultaneously. The computer-optimized
hologram has high uniformity of the diffraction peaks in the computer reconstruction. However, the uniformity decreases
due to spatial and temporal properties of the optical system. We propose some optimization methods of the hologram to
improve the uniformity and demonstrate the processing performance.
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