High-speed, precision, laser-based method and system for processing material of one or more targets within a field

A high-speed, precision system for processing material of at least one target having predetermined dimensions and a characteristic within a field, the system comprising:

• a laser source for generating a laser beam along a propagation path and having an irradiance pattern with an aspect ratio and an orientation in a plane substantially perpendicular to the propagation path;
• a controller for generating control signals including orientation control signals based on the characteristic;
• a first subsystem disposed in the propagation path for shaping the laser beam based on the predetermined dimensions to change the aspect ratio and obtain a modified beam;
• a second subsystem for controllably changing the orientation of the irradiance pattern based on the orientation control signals;
• and
• a beam delivery and focusing subsystem for sequentially positioning and focusing the modified beam into at least one spot on each target to process the material of each target.

A high-speed, precision, laser-based method for processing material of at least one target within a field, the method comprising:

• a) generating a laser beam along a propagation path;
• b) controllably modifying the laser beam to obtain a modified laser beam;
• c) relatively positioning the modified laser beam into at least one spot at a target within the field to process the material of the target wherein the at least one spot has a set of desired spatial characteristics including an adjustable aspect ratio which are obtained by step b);
• and
• d) repeating steps a) through c) for each target until the material of all targets within the field are processed.