Real-time determination of the amount of removed material during short pulses laser micromachining

Short pulses laser generated shock waves in the air during the photoablation of different ceramics have been monitored by laser beam deflection technique. Using a model, we have related the shock wave transit time over a fixed distance to the shock wave energy. We have found that the instantaneous ablation rate is a linear function of the shock wave energy in the considered range of fluence. This technique is proved to be suitable for monitoring in real-time the laser ablation process.