Patent ID: 8029501

Claim:
A method of laser processing of a material, comprising the steps of: i) identifying at least one component of a material to be laser processed and selecting a pulsed laser to produce laser pulses having a wavelength such that the laser pulses are absorbed by the at least one component, and adjusting the pulsed laser to produce the laser pulses having an energy sufficient such that each laser pulse absorbed in a volume of the material irradiated by the laser pulses produces superheated temperatures above a vaporization point of said at least one component of material contained in the laser irradiated volume, ii) selecting a pulse duration time that meets requirements for impulsive heat deposition such that each pulse duration time is made shorter than a time required for thermal diffusion out of the volume and made shorter than a time required for a thermally driven expansion of the volume, and such that the pulse duration time is made long enough and the pulse energy is made low enough so that a peak intensity of each laser pulse is below a threshold for ionization driven ablation to occur in the material, such that most of the energy contained in each laser pulse will be converted to ablation of the material out of the volume with any residual energy not being enough to substantially damage material surrounding the volume irradiated by the pulsed laser; and irradiating the volume of the material with the pulsed laser to laser process the material.