| Abstract | Finer and cleaner features are expected in micro-machining with high power, ultrashort pulse lasers as the melt and evaporation phases are considerably reduced. However, a high-intensity optical beam propagating through a gaseous medium can cause its breakdown generating plasma, which is enhanced further by the self focusing effect of the medium. Photon-plasma scattering compensates somewhat for the self-focusing, but it also distorts the beam profile with consequent impact on the fabricated surface. Plasma also continues to supply heat beyond the pulse duration, which may cause melting and thus distort the features further. In the present article, we show that suitable parameters can be determined to reduce the distortion to the beam profile and balance self-focusing and plasma defocusing resulting in plasma filamentation. Well-shaped beam and plasma filaments, both have favourable impact on the fabricated features. The calculated surface features are compared with the experimentally machined crater profiles with good agreement. |
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