On-The-Fly Laser Beam Shaping With Acousto-Optofluidics

One of the critical challenges in laser materials processing is to overcome the classical trade-off between fabrication precision and throughput. A promising method to address this problem is using non-conventional beam shapes such as Bessel and annular beams [1] . Their unique properties enable enhanced laser cutting, micro-machining, and drilling of numerous materials. However, the broad implementation of these beams for high-throughput, high-precision processing has been hampered by two main technical issues. First, the lack of techniques for high-speed control of the beam shape. Secondly, the use of laser direct writing workstations based on point by point scanning. As a result, it is not currently possible to rapidly irradiate selected regions of a workpiece with a desired beam shape.