Distribution of damage volumes in laser-induced channels

A method, comprising:

• providing a laser system comprising a laser that produces a laser beam and
• an optical assembly including at least one of a lens or a mirror that receives the laser beam and emits a conditioned laser beam toward a substrate;
• impinging the conditioned laser beam onto the substrate to form a laser-induced channel in the substrate to at least partially define a line of separation within the substrate, the laser-induced channel comprising a plurality of self-focus damage volumes that extends along a thickness of the substrate,
• wherein the conditioned laser beam uniformly distributes each damage volume of the plurality of self-focus damage volumes of the laser-induced channel along the thickness of the substrate within an effective focal region of the conditioned laser beam that spans the thickness of the substrate, and
• wherein the conditioned laser beam has a uniform focal energy distribution along a direction of propagation of the conditioned laser beam within the effective focal region of the conditioned laser beam;
• and
• selectively controlling an energy density of the uniform focal energy distribution of the conditioned laser beam to facilitate modulating a spacing between the plurality of self-focused damage volumes.