Investigations of surface processing of functional ceramics applying ultrashort laser pulses

The development of ultrashort pulse lasers has enabled many new process technologies in the past few years. The nonlinear absorption caused by high peak intensities and the nonthermal ablation are two of the most attractive benefits of pulse durations in the pico- and femtosecond regime, which allow for the processing of a wide variety of materials. Even dielectric, brittle-hard substrates can be processed precisely and gently without cracking or inducing stresses. For this reason, the technology is particularly suited to open up new processing possibilities in the field of functional ceramics. These materials offer many opportunities to set up complex microsystems and multisensor systems. However, the options to structure and shape functional ceramics were limited in the past and had to be solved by elaborate mechanical processes so far. By means of ultrashort pulse laser processing, new applications in the fields of precise shape formation and microstructuring of functional ceramics become accessible. I...