Crack-free high-aspect ratio holes in glasses by top-down percussion drilling with infrared femtosecond laser GHz-bursts

We report novel results on top-down percussion drilling in different glasses with femtosecond laser GHz-bursts. Thanks to this particular regime of light-matter interaction, combining non-linear absorption and thermal cumulative effects, we obtained crack-free holes of aspect ratios exceeding 30 in sodalime and 70 in fused silica. The results are discussed in terms of inner wall morphology, aspect ratio and drilling speed.

Automated summary

We present novel findings on top-down percussion drilling in various glasses using femtosecond laser GHz-bursts. By exploiting the particular light-matter interaction regime combining nonlinear absorption and thermal cumulative effects, we successfully obtained crack-free holes with aspect ratios exceeding 30 in sodalime glass and 70 in fused silica. The results are discussed in terms of inner wall morphology, aspect ratio, and drilling speed.