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Laser Ablation

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CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering

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Synonyms

Sublimation; Vaporization

Definition

Laser ablation describes a material removal mechanism in which a material is removed in gaseous state directly from a solid state by irradiating it with high optical intensities.

Theory and Application

Laser radiation consists of electromagnetic radiation with an electric field (E) and a magnetic field (H). The absorption of radiation in materials is done via excitation of electrons (free or bound) inside the bulk material. Interaction will only take place with electrons of the atoms, since the nucleus weight is too large to follow the high-frequency laser radiation field. According to Dahotre and Harimkar (2008), the following set of equations describes the effects of linear absorption mechanisms for materials like metals or graphite. The imposed force on the electron can be described as

$$ F=eE+e\left(\frac{v}{c}\times H\right) $$

where e represents electron charge, E the electric field, v the electron velocity, and cthe speed of light....

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References

  • Craig G, Welch A (2001) Optical and thermal response of tissue to laser radiation. In: Waynant RW (ed) Lasers in medicine. CRC Press, Boca Raton, pp 27–45

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  • Dahotre NB, Harimkar SP (2008) Laser materials interactions. In: Laser fabrication and machining of materials. Springer, New York, pp 34–65

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  • Gillner A, Horn A, Johnigk C (2011) Ablation. In: Poprawe R (ed) Tailored light 2: laser application technology. Springer, Berlin, pp 343–363

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  • Lewis LJ, Perez D (2010) Theory and simulation of laser ablation: from basic mechanisms to applications. In: Sugioka K, Meunier M, Piqué A (eds) Laser precision microfabrication. Springer, Berlin, pp 35–61

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. New Manufacturing Technologies, ETA SA Manufacture Horlogère Suisse, Mühlestrasse 14, 2540, Grenchen, Switzerland

    Eduardo Weingärtner

  2. Institut für Werkzeugmaschinen und Fertigung (IWF), ETH Zürich, Tannenstrasse 3, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    Konrad Wegener

  3. Inspire AG, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland

    Claus Dold

Authors
  1. Eduardo Weingärtner
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  2. Konrad Wegener
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  3. Claus Dold
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eduardo Weingärtner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. CIRP Office Intern. Institution for, Paris, France

    The International Academy for Produ

  2. Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Mechanical Engineering Department, Trois-Rivieres, Québec, Canada

    Luc Laperrière

  3. Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany

    Gunther Reinhart

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© 2015 CIRP

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Weingärtner, E., Wegener, K., Dold, C. (2015). Laser Ablation. In: The International Academy for Produ, ., Laperrière, L., Reinhart, G. (eds) CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35950-7_6474-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35950-7_6474-4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35950-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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