Ultraviolet

Engineering

Materials science

Developmental psychology

Computer science

Optical materials

Laser

Physics

Nanotechnology

Psychology

Laser beams

Optics

Beam splitter

Focus (optics)

Process engineering

Maturity (psychological)

Materials processing

Optoelectronics

Ultrashort pulse

Optical Engineering

The industrial maturity of ultrashort pulsed lasers has triggered the development of a plethora of material processing strategies. Recently, the combination of these remarkable temporal pulse properties with advanced structured light concepts has led to breakthroughs in the development of novel laser application methods, which will now gradually reach industrial environments. We review the efficient generation of customized focus distributions from the near infrared down to the deep ultraviolet, e.g., based on non-diffracting beams and 3D-beam splitters, and demonstrate their impact for micro- and nanomachining of a wide range of materials. In the beam shaping concepts presented, special attention was paid to suitability for both high energies and high powers.

Structured light for ultrafast laser micro- and nanoprocessing