Numerical and Experimental Investigation of Morphological Modification on Fused Silica Using CO(2) Laser Ablation

In this paper, a numerical model based on the finite-element method for predicting the morphological evolution during CO(2) laser ablation on fused silica is developed and examined experimentally. Adopting the optimized parameters that were obtained from the model, a typical cone-shaped multi-stage structure with a diameter of 2 mm and a slope angle of 10.4° was sufficiently polished. Both the roughness and the transparency of the surface structure were significantly improved. The characterized slope angle of the continuous surface is exactly consistent with the predicted value, and the ablation depth is 32 ± 1.247 µm with a deviation of 1.7% (RMS, root mean square). The deviation is principally caused by the neglect of melting displacement in simulation and the irregularity in actual stepping structures. These results indicate that the numerical model can simulate morphological modification of CO(2) laser ablation with a high degree of reliability. It could further be used to optimize processing parameters for customizing continuous fused silica surfaces, which could facilitate industrial manufacturing of freeform optics.