Fast parallel diffractive multi-beam laser surface micro-structuring

Fast parallel short pulsed laser surface micro-structuring is demonstrated using a spatial light modulator (SLM). Multiple independently controllable femtosecond and picosecond processing beams have been generated and complex parallel surface microstructuring demonstrated on a number of materials. In addition, high-throughput processing is demonstrated by combining a high repetition rate picosecond laser output, 2.5W at 1064 nm and repetition rate of 20 kHz with P > 1.2W diffracted into 25 parallel beams. This has the effect of creating an "effective" repetition rate of 500 kHz without restrictive scan speeds.