JP2008205486A - Laser processing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pulse laser processing apparatus in which processing efficiency is improved by utilizing a conventional ultrashort pulse light source. <P>SOLUTION: The pulse laser processing apparatus includes a laser light source which emits an ultrashort pulse light; a plurality of light paths which can change mutual light path length differences; a light branching part which branches the ultrashort pulse light emitted from the laser light source to lead to each of the light paths; and a processing control part which controls the radiation, while leading the pulsed lights output from a plurality of the light paths to a predetermined position in a workpiece. The pulse lights output from a plurality of light paths are radiated to a predetermined position to be processed from mutually different directions. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a laser processing apparatus that processes a workpiece using a laser, and more particularly to a laser processing apparatus that uses ultrashort pulse light.

  Laser processing apparatuses that process a workpiece using a laser are widely used in various fields.

In an ordinary laser processing apparatus, thermal processing is performed by using a laser having an absorption wavelength of a substance. On the other hand, it is known that if a high-power ultrashort pulse laser is used, ablation can be caused by a multiphoton process and non-thermal processing can be performed. Regarding this, Takuya Okamoto et al. “Ablation of polytetrafluoroethylene with a high-power ultrashort pulse Ti: Al ₂ O ₃ laser” (Laser Science Research No. 15, 1993, pp. 55-57) (Non-Patent Document 1) ).
Takuya Okamoto et al., “Ablation of polytetrafluoroethylene with high-power ultrashort pulse Ti: Al2O3 laser”, Laser Science No. 15, 1993, 55-57.

  When an ultrashort pulse laser is applied to a laser processing apparatus, the energy per light pulse is increased in order to improve the processing efficiency, but the laser light source is complicated and large, and as a light source of the laser processing apparatus, The limit is approaching and it is becoming difficult to configure as a processing device.

  In view of these problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a pulse laser processing apparatus that uses a normal ultrashort pulse light source to improve processing efficiency.

  In order to solve the above problems, a laser processing apparatus of the present invention includes a laser light source that emits ultrashort pulse light, a plurality of optical paths that can change the optical path length difference, and an ultrashort pulse emitted from the laser light source. A light branching unit that branches light and guides it to each of the optical paths; and a processing control unit that guides pulsed light output from a plurality of optical paths to a predetermined processing target position of the workpiece and controls irradiation thereof. The machining control unit irradiates the predetermined machining target position with pulsed light output from a plurality of optical paths from different directions.

  According to this, a single ultrashort pulsed light is guided to a plurality of optical paths by the optical branching unit, and the time when the pulsed light is output from each of the optical paths is controlled by controlling the optical path lengths of the plurality of optical paths. Shift. The plurality of pulse lights shifted in time are irradiated to a predetermined processing target position of the workpiece from different directions. Thereby, non-thermal processing such as ablation is performed on the surface of the workpiece irradiated with a plurality of pulsed light by multiphoton absorption or the like.

  In the laser processing apparatus of the present invention, the pulse width of the ultrashort pulse light is preferably 100 nanoseconds or less. This is because the multiphoton reaction is performed by a physical phenomenon different from the normal one-photon absorption process by irradiation with pulsed light having a short pulse width.

  In addition, the laser processing apparatus of the present invention preferably further includes a beam correction unit that matches at least one of the spatial mode and the beam divergence angle of the branched pulsed light.

  Moreover, it is preferable that the laser processing apparatus of this invention is further provided with the polarization control means which is arrange | positioned in the front | former stage of an optical branching part and controls the polarization state of an ultrashort pulsed light.

  In the laser processing apparatus of the present invention, the optical branching unit is a deflecting beam splitter, the polarization control means is a quarter-wave plate, and the tilt and rotation of the quarter-wave plate with respect to ultrashort pulse light are changed. It is preferable to control the polarization state of the ultrashort pulse light. In this case, the quarter-wave plate is preferably a Soleil / Babinet compensator.

  As a laser apparatus for solving the above-mentioned problems, an ultrashort pulse composed of a laser light source that emits ultrashort pulse light and a plurality of pulse lights based on one pulse of the ultrashort pulse light emitted from the laser light source. A pulsed light train generating unit that generates an optical train; and a processing control unit that guides the generated ultrashort pulsed light train to a predetermined processing target position of the workpiece and controls the irradiation thereof, and the pulsed light train. The generation unit includes a quarter-wave plate that changes the polarization state of the ultrashort pulse light emitted from the laser light source, a plurality of optical paths that can change the optical path length difference, and the quarter-wave plate. Branching the ultrashort pulsed light whose polarization state has been changed by each of the optical path and guiding it to each of the optical paths, wherein the optical branching part is a deflection beam splitter, and the quarter-wave plate Change tilt and rotation for ultrashort pulsed light Controlling the polarization state by the Rukoto, conceivable ones.

  According to this, based on one pulse of pulsed light emitted from the laser light source, the pulsed light train generation unit generates an ultrashort pulsed light train composed of a plurality of pulsed lights. This ultrashort pulsed light train is guided to a predetermined processing target position of the workpiece and irradiated. Non-thermal processing such as ablation is performed on the surface of the workpiece irradiated with the pulsed light train by multiphoton absorption or the like.

  The pulse width of the ultrashort pulse light is preferably 100 nanoseconds or less. This is because the multiphoton reaction is performed by a physical phenomenon different from the normal one-photon absorption process by irradiation with pulsed light having a short pulse width.

  It is preferable that the pulsed light train generation unit includes a combined output unit that combines and outputs the pulsed light emitted from each of the optical paths.

  According to this, the pulsed light emitted from the light source is branched and guided to the respective optical paths by the light branching unit. If each optical path length is made different, the incident pulse light is outputted from each optical path with a time difference. By combining and outputting these lights at the combined output unit, a pulsed light train composed of a plurality of pulsed lights is emitted.

  This ultrashort pulse train may be a double pulse composed of two ultrashort pulse lights whose pulse interval is not less than the pulse width and not more than 1 millisecond. The present inventor has clarified that laser-induced plasma is effectively generated by double pulse irradiation with a short pulse interval.

  The optical branching unit and the combined output unit are preferably polarization beam splitters. According to this, there is little loss of optical energy due to branching, transmission during transmission, reflection, and the like.

  It is preferable that the pulse light train generation unit further includes a beam correction unit that matches at least one of the spatial mode of the branched pulse light and the beam divergence angle. If the optical path length difference of the branched light is large, the spatial mode and the beam divergence angle of the pulsed light guided in each optical path will be different. By causing at least one of the spatial mode and the beam divergence angle to coincide with each other in the beam correction unit, the influence caused by this optical path length difference is mitigated. The quarter-wave plate is preferably a Soleil / Babinet compensator.

  The pulse light train generation unit preferably includes an optical modulator that modulates at least one of the intensity and phase of the input pulse light. As a result, the workpiece can be irradiated with a light pulse having a desired waveform, and the processing efficiency can be improved.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to generate a plurality of pulses based on the pulse emitted from the laser light source and generate laser-induced plasma by irradiating the workpiece with this, so that laser processing can be performed. The generation efficiency of laser-induced plasma is improved as compared with the case of a single pulse, and the processing efficiency can be improved.

  In particular, if the pulsed light is branched into a plurality of optical paths and the optical path length differences are made different, it is possible to easily generate a plurality of temporally different pulses and irradiate the workpiece from different directions.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In order to facilitate the understanding of the description, the same reference numerals are given to the same components in the drawings as much as possible, and duplicate descriptions are omitted. Note that the drawings are simplified for the sake of explanation, and dimensions, shapes, and the like do not necessarily match actual ones.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the laser processing apparatus of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a laser processing apparatus 1 of the present invention generates a laser beam source 2 that emits ultrashort pulsed light and a pulsed light train composed of a plurality of pulsed lights based on the emitted ultrashort pulsed light. And a machining control unit 4 that guides the pulsed light train to a predetermined processing target position of the workpiece 5 and controls the irradiation thereof.

  Among these, the laser light source 1 is a light source that emits ultrashort pulse light having a pulse width of 1 millisecond or less. For example, a titanium / sapphire laser, an Nd: YAG laser, an Nd: Glass laser, or the like can be used. This may be combined with an optical amplifier for amplifying a laser.

  The processing control unit 4 includes an irradiation optical system 41 that guides laser light to a predetermined processing position, a workpiece 5, and a processing position control unit 42 that controls the relative positional relationship between the laser light irradiation positions. The irradiation optical system 41 is configured by combining a shutter that switches between irradiation and non-irradiation of laser light, a lens that collects laser light at a measurement position, a mirror, and the like. Among these, a mechanical shutter, an acousto-optic modulator, an electro-optic modulator, or the like can be used as the shutter. For condensing the laser light, it is preferable to use a reflection type objective lens that can condense without deforming the pulse waveform. The machining position control unit 42 controls the irradiation optical system 41 to drive a table on which the workpiece 5 is placed or fixed, even in the form of irradiating a predetermined machining target position of the workpiece 5 with pulsed light. Any one of the types in which the relative position with respect to the irradiation optical system 41 fixed by moving the workpiece 5 is changed to irradiate the desired processing target position with the pulsed light may be used, or both may be combined. Although not shown, an observation system for observing the processing target position may be provided separately.

  Next, some specific embodiments of the pulsed light train generation unit 3 will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating the pulsed light train generation unit 3a according to the first embodiment. This pulsed light train generating unit 3a includes a quarter-wave plate 31 that changes the polarization state of the input pulsed light, a polarization beam splitter 32 that branches the input pulsed light, and a mirror group M11 that forms one branched light path A. M12 and mirror groups M21 to M24 that form the other branched light path B, a beam correction unit 34 disposed on the branched light path A, and a polarization beam splitter 33 that combines the light emitted from the branched light paths A and B Has been. Among these, the beam correction unit 34 is configured by combining a convex lens, a concave lens, a reflecting mirror, or the like. Then, the length of the branched optical path B, that is, the optical path length can be changed by moving the mirrors M22 and M23 of the branched optical path B with respect to the mirrors M21 and M24. On the other hand, since the mirror groups M11 and M12 of the branched optical path A are fixed, the optical path length is constant. Accordingly, the difference in the optical path length between the branched optical path A and the branched optical path B is changed by the movement of the mirrors M22 and M23.

  Next, the operation of the laser processing apparatus 1 using the pulsed light train generation unit 3a will be described with reference to FIGS.

  The ultrashort pulse light emitted from the laser light source shown in FIG. 1 is guided to the pulse light train generation unit 3a. The ultrashort pulse light emitted from the laser light source is generally linearly polarized light. In the pulse train generation unit 3a, the ultrashort pulse light is first guided to the quarter-wave plate 31 as shown in FIG. 2, and becomes circularly polarized light here. Then, one of the P-polarized light and the S-polarized light is reflected by the polarizing beam splitter 32 and the other is transmitted, so that the light is branched into two branched light paths A and B.

  One of the branched lights is reflected by the mirrors M <b> 11 and M <b> 12, passes through the branched light path A passing through the beam correction unit 34, and enters the polarization beam splitter 33. The other of the branched lights is reflected by the mirrors M <b> 21 to M <b> 24 and enters the polarization beam splitter 33. The polarization beam splitter 33 synthesizes both lights by reflecting the light from the branched optical path A and transmitting the light from the branched optical path B.

  At this time, the length (optical path length) of the branched optical path B can be made longer (or shorter) than the branched optical path A by changing the positions of the mirrors M22 and M23 in the branched optical path B as described above. When the optical path length of the branched optical path B is longer than the branched optical path A, the pulsed light transmitted through the branched optical path A arrives at the polarizing beam splitter 33 earlier than the pulsed light transmitted through the branched optical path B, and is output from the polarized beam splitter 33. The light becomes a pulsed light train composed of two pulsed lights having a pulse interval corresponding to the difference in optical path length. That is, by controlling the optical path length, it is possible to generate pulsed light trains having different pulse intervals.

  At this time, the beam correction unit 34 matches the spatial mode and beam divergence angle of the light transmitted through the branched optical path A with the spatial mode and beam divergence angle of the light transmitted through the branched optical path B. Thereby, the spatial characteristics of the emitted pulsed light train can be made uniform.

  Various beam splitters other than the polarizing beam splitter can be used for branching / combining light. However, the polarizing beam splitter is particularly preferable because it has little loss due to transmission and reflection during branching and combining.

  The generated pulsed light train is guided to the processing target position of the workpiece 5 through the irradiation optical system 41 shown in FIG. Irradiation to the processing target position is controlled by the processing position control unit 42 moving both or one of the workpiece 5 and the laser irradiation position.

  By irradiating the ultrashort pulse light at a short time interval, the workpiece 5 can be processed non-thermally by multiphoton absorption or the like. It is considered that laser-induced plasma is related to processing with this ultrashort pulse light. Therefore, the inventor of the present application investigated the plasma generation process by the ultrashort pulse light by experiment.

  First, when water is irradiated with a double pulse of a fundamental wave (wavelength: 1.06 μm) of an Nd: YAG laser pulse having a millijoule order and a pulse width of about 30 picoseconds, as shown in FIG. It has been found that the relaxation time of light emission becomes longer depending on the interval between double pulses. It was also found that even if the total energy of the pulsed light is the same, the total energy of light emission is greater in the double pulse than in the single pulse.

  Also in laser-induced light emission when air or nitrogen gas is used, the use of double pulses has a longer relaxation time and the light emission intensity increases than when single pulses are used. FIG. 4 shows the relationship between the double pulse time interval and the light emission intensity when air is emitted by the double pulse. When a double pulse with a pulse time interval of 200 picoseconds is irradiated, the pulse time interval is shown. It can be seen that the luminous intensity is about 70 times that obtained when zero is zero.

  FIG. 5 shows the spectral characteristics of breakdown light emission induced by an ultrashort pulse laser of air or nitrogen gas in comparison with the spectral characteristics of light emission of an air-filled discharge tube. Here, the breakdown spectrum of air is indicated by a thick solid line, the breakdown spectrum of nitrogen is indicated by a thin solid line, and the emission spectrum of the discharge tube is indicated by a broken line. In this figure, for easy comparison, the breakdown data for nitrogen is −0.25, and the data for the discharge tube is −0.5, respectively, moved with respect to the vertical axis. Each spectral characteristic is in good agreement. The light emission of the discharge tube is due to plasma light emission, and the breakdown light emission is also considered to be due to plasma light emission.

  Since it may be considered that the laser processing apparatus 1 of the present invention also uses laser-induced plasma, the generation efficiency of the laser-induced plasma may be improved in order to improve the processing efficiency. As described above, it is considered that the double pulse irradiation has a higher emission intensity of the laser-induced plasma and the generation efficiency is improved than the single pulse irradiation. Therefore, the generation efficiency of laser-induced plasma can be improved and the processing efficiency can be improved by irradiating double pulses as in the present invention.

  Further, by changing the tilt and rotation of the quarter-wave plate 31 with respect to the input light, the input pulse light can be made into elliptically polarized light, and the ratio of the P-polarized component and the S-polarized component can be changed. As a result, the ratio of the light branched into the respective branched optical paths A and B by the polarization beam splitter 32 changes. By utilizing this, it is possible to change the intensity ratio between the preceding pulse and the succeeding pulse of the pulse train.

  Furthermore, although the double pulse output from the polarization beam splitter 33 becomes linearly polarized light orthogonal to each other, both can be converted into circularly polarized light by inserting a quarter-wave plate in the output optical path. Further, by passing a polarizer, the same linearly polarized light can be obtained. In this case, the output unit can variably control the branching ratio by converting the output light of the quarter-wave plate to elliptically polarized light by controlling the tilt and rotation of the quarter-wave plate of the output unit. it can. It is preferable to use a Soleil / Babinet compensator for these quarter-wave plates because it enables more precise control of the intensity ratio.

  Next, a second embodiment of the pulsed light train generation unit 3 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, the condensing part 41a which functions as the irradiation optical system 41 is also shown.

  The pulsed light train generation unit 3b of the second embodiment is the same as the pulsed light train generation unit 3a of the first embodiment up to the part that branches the optical pulse and leads it to the branched light paths A and B having different optical path lengths. It is. However, instead of synthesizing the pulse lights transmitted through the branched optical paths A and B, they are condensed by separate condenser lenses L1 and L2 via the mirrors M12 and M25, respectively, and the processing target position of the workpiece 5 is processed. The point that leads to is different.

  Here, an example is shown in which the condensing of the pulsed light output from each optical path is collected by a single condenser lens L1, L2, but the configuration of the condenser 41a is not limited to this. One or a plurality of lenses and / or mirrors may be combined.

  With such a configuration, the pulsed light output with a time difference from the branched optical path A and the branched optical path B is irradiated to the processing target position from different directions. For this reason, plasma seeds are generated by the preceding pulse, plasma is generated by the subsequent pulse, and processing is performed. At this time, it is possible to process only the region where the two laser beams of the workpiece 5 intersect, and three-dimensional fine processing can be performed.

  Next, the pulse light train generation unit 3c of the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. This pulsed light string generation unit 3c is a polarizer 31a that converts input pulsed light into a predetermined polarization state, a diffraction grating 32a that spatially wavelength-decomposes the output light of the polarizer 31a, and intensity-modulates the wavelength-resolved light. An intensity modulator 6, an analyzer 31b that transmits only a predetermined polarized portion of the intensity-modulated light, a phase modulator 7 that phase-modulates this light, and a diffraction grating that synthesizes the spatially wavelength-resolved light 33a. Among them, the intensity modulation unit 6 and the phase modulation unit 7 have substantially the same configuration, both of which are spatial light modulators 61 and 71 and CRTs 63 and 73 for writing modulation information to the spatial light modulators 61 and 71. And mirror groups M41 and M42 and M43 and M44 for inputting and outputting pulsed light to and from the projection lenses 62 and 72 and the spatial light modulators 61 and 71.

  According to this configuration, the input pulse light is spatially spectrally resolved by the diffraction grating 32a and then guided to the spatial light modulator 61 by the mirror M41. A modulation pattern is projected onto the spatial light modulator 61 via the lens 62 by the CRT 63, and the polarization state of the light of each wavelength component of the input light pulse is independently changed according to this modulation pattern. The light whose polarization state has been changed in this way is collected by the mirror M42 and guided to the analyzer 31b. Since the analyzer 31b allows only light of a predetermined polarization state to pass, intensity modulation can be performed for each wavelength component of the input pulsed light. This light is further guided to the phase modulation unit 7 and similarly subjected to phase modulation for each wavelength component by the spatial light modulator 71 via the mirror M43. The phase-modulated light is collected by the mirror M44 and collected by the diffraction grating 33a into a single beam. Since the spectral characteristics are changed by intensity modulation and phase modulation, the pulse waveform of the output light changes. By controlling this modulation, it is possible to generate a desired optical pulse such as a pulsed light train having a different wavelength.

  Next, the pulsed light train generating unit 3d of the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. This pulse light train generation unit 3d basically uses dichroic mirrors 32b, 32c, 33b, and 33c instead of the polarization beam splitters 32 and 33 of the pulse light train generation unit 3a of the first embodiment. Further, the light is branched into three optical paths A, B, and C by branching twice. Then, by changing the optical path lengths of the branched optical path B and the branched optical path C by moving the mirror groups M22 and M23, or M32 and M33, the time until the pulsed light is output from each optical path is changed to be plural. A pulsed light train composed of pulses is generated. In this embodiment, a pulsed light train composed of three pulsed lights having different wavelengths can be generated.

  Further, not only the pulsed light train generation units of the first to fourth embodiments are used alone, but some of them may be used in combination in series or in parallel. Thereby, a plurality of pulse lights can be generated with low loss.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the portion of the branched optical path whose optical path length is variable is formed by the mirror groups M22, M23, M32, M33, etc., can be configured by a right angle prism or a corner cube reflector. . In this case, the number of parts is reduced and the adjustment becomes easy. However, since the right-angle prism is a dispersion medium, the waveform is deformed by an ultrashort pulse of picoseconds or less, which is not preferable. Further, since the corner cube reflector is accompanied by rotation of polarized light, it is necessary to be careful when using it.

It is a basic lineblock diagram of the laser processing device of the present invention. It is a schematic block diagram of 1st Embodiment of the pulse optical train production | generation part of the laser processing apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the double pulse time interval of the breakdown light emission of water by a double pulse, and light emission relaxation time. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the double pulse time interval of the breakdown light emission of the air by a double pulse, and light emission intensity. It is the figure which compared the emission spectrum of breakdown light emission of air and nitrogen, and air discharge tube light emission. It is a schematic block diagram of 2nd Embodiment of the pulse optical train production | generation part of the laser processing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of 3rd Embodiment of the pulse optical train production | generation part of the laser processing apparatus of this invention. It is a schematic block diagram of 4th Embodiment of the pulse optical train production | generation part of the laser processing apparatus of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Laser processing apparatus, 2 ... Laser light source, 3 ... Pulse light train production | generation part, 4 ... Processing control part, 5 ... Workpiece, 41 ... Irradiation optical system, 42 ... Processing position control part.

Claims (6)

A laser light source that emits ultrashort pulse light;
A plurality of optical paths capable of changing the optical path length difference between each other;
A light branching portion for branching the ultrashort pulse light emitted from the laser light source and guiding it to each of the optical paths;
A processing control unit that guides pulsed light output from the plurality of optical paths to a predetermined processing target position of the workpiece and controls its irradiation,
The said process control part irradiates the pulsed light output from these optical paths with respect to the said predetermined process target position from a mutually different direction, The pulse laser processing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.   The pulse laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a pulse width of the ultrashort pulse light is 100 nanoseconds or less.   The pulse laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a beam correction unit that matches at least one of a spatial mode and a beam divergence angle of the branched pulsed light.   The pulse laser processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a polarization control unit that is disposed in a front stage of the optical branching unit and controls a polarization state of the ultrashort pulsed light. The optical branch is a deflecting beam splitter;
The polarization control means is a quarter-wave plate;
5. The pulse laser processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the polarization state of the ultrashort pulse light is controlled by changing the tilt and rotation of the quarter-wave plate with respect to the ultrashort pulse light.   6. The pulse laser processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the quarter-wave plate is a Soleil / Babinet compensator.

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