Patent ID: 9162319
Filing Date: 2015-10-20
Classification: B23K

Abstract:
1. A method for removing material by means of a laser, wherein a sequence of laser pulses is generated and an area of material to be machined is irradiated with the sequence of laser pulses, characterized in that a pulse energy of each pulse in the sequence of laser pulses is lower than a laser pulse energy required to produce the removal of material by an isolated laser pulse in the area irradiated by a single pulse of the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the irradiated area is spatially overlapped by two consecutive laser pulses of the sequence of laser pulses to an extent of less than 50%, wherein each of the two consecutive laser pulses have a substantially similar duration and intensity, wherein a continuous ablation area is removed from the material by the sequence of laser pulses, wherein the material is removed through the accumulation of thermal energy over the two consecutive laser pulses, wherein an area that is not spatially overlapped by the two consecutive laser pulses is removed from the material through diffusion of the thermal energy over the irradiated area, and wherein a repetition rate of the two consecutive laser pulses is below 100 MHz.