Patent ID: 6822188
Filing Date: 2004-11-23
Classification: B23K

Abstract:
A method for materials processing by plasma-inducing high-energy radiation, the method comprising the steps of:directing plasma-inducing high-energy radiation in a first direction onto a material to be processed and establishing a vapor capillary in the material; measuring simultaneously instantaneous intensity of the radiation within the vapor capillary in a plane of observation that is oriented transversely to the first direction and determining in the plane of observation spatial shapes of two spaced-apart peak-intensity regions (10,12) of the radiation emitted from the vapor capillary and of a minimum intensity region (11) that is formed between the two peak-intensity regions in the vapor capillary; comparing the determined spatial shapes of the peak-intensity regions with predetermined region shapes; and controlling a materials processing operation as a function of deviations of the determined shapes from the predetermined region shapes.