Patent ID: 8671759
Filing Date: 2014-03-18
Classification: G01H

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for measuring the amount of material removed from a target in pulsed laser ablation, the apparatus comprising: a laser generator configured to generate a laser beam to ablate the target; a delay generator for driving the laser generator; a microphone configured to acquire the acoustic signal generated when the target is being ablated by the laser beam and to generate an electrical signal accordingly; a pre-amplifier configured for amplifying the electrical signal generated by the microphone; a digital oscilloscope being connected to the delay generator and the pre-amplifier, and configured to display an acoustic waveform indicating the intensity of the acoustic signal generated when the target is being ablated by the laser beam; a defocusing component for varying spot size of the laser beam; and a processing unit configured to process the acoustic waveform displayed by the digital oscilloscope based on a pre-established empirical relationship between the intensity of the acoustic signal, variation of the spot size of the laser beam and the amount of material removed by the laser ablation in order to deduce the amount of material removed from the target in the pulsed laser ablation in real time.