Abstract

With the maturing of laser technologies, laser processing is presenting itself as an attractive alternative to traditional machining techniques due to its free-form, non-contact nature. It is believed to be especially relevant for hard and brittle materials, such as sapphire. However, due to the complex nature of the physical processes involved, especially for transparent materials, optimization of laser processing procedures often requires tedious amounts of trial-and-error work. In such regards, scaling relationships prove to be an invaluable resource from both a basic science and application standpoint, as they not only reveal physical relationships which aid in the development of theoretical models, but also reduce the experimental trial space for optimization.

© 2017 IEEE