Holographic Laser Processing Using Spatial Light Phase Modulator

Abstract

Holographic laser processing using a spatial light modulator (SLM) enhances the efficiency and accuracy of such laser processing as precise periodic structuring, welding, optical storage, and dicing. In this paper, we experimentally confirmed the stability of SLM in a laser processing setup using a high-power femtosecond laser. A temperature-controlled SLM indicated enough stability for a regenerative amplified femtosecond laser with 5.7 W power. In addition, we applied SLM to large-scale parallel laser processing with a high-power femtosecond laser. On a glass sample, we successfully performed 1005 parallel laser processing by an optimized computer-generated hologram (CGH). In large-scale parallel laser processing, the required pulse energy was sufficiently smaller than the SLM’s damage threshold.