A hybrid laser-plasma ablation method for improved nanosecond laser machining of heavy flint glass

In this work we present a hybrid laser-plasma ablation method for improving laser machining of heavy flint glass using a third-harmonic Nd:YAGlaser operating at a wavelength of 355 nm in the nanosecond pulse duration range. For this purpose, the glass samples were treated by a hydrogenous plasma at atmospheric pressure, resulting in an absolute decrease in transmission of 2.43% for the used laser wavelength after 30 minutes of plasma treatment. Machining experiments were performed on both pure and plasma treated heavy flint glass. It was shown that by the presented method, the roundness form error of the ablated holes could be reduced by a factor of 1.9. Further, no formation of debris was observed when applying the hybrid laser-plasma ablation method.