Transparent material processing with an ultrashort pulse laser

A method for welding transparent materials, comprising:

• directing a beam of ultrashort laser pulses to near an interface between said materials, to induce non-linear absorption of energy proximate at least one high intensity region of said beam, to deposit and accumulate heat at said region with repeated pulses at a repetition rate sufficiently high to cause localized melting of said materials.

A method for creating a raised ridge at the interface between two opposed surfaces to be welded to fill a gap that cannot be bridged by welding alone, comprising:

• focusing ultrashort laser pulses below one or both of the opposed surfaces on which the ridge is to be formed, to raise the ridge;
• and
• subsequently laser welding the raised ridge and the opposite surface or ridge.

An optical system for welding transparent materials, comprising:

• a laser system that produces a beam of femtosecond to picosecond ultrashort laser pulses having pulse widths in the range from about 50 fs to 500 ps;
• and
• a focusing element for focusing said beam near an interface between said materials, wherein said laser system has a pulse repetition rate in the range from 100 kHz to 100 MHz, and said pulses have a zone of higher fluence, which are cumulatively sufficient to induce localized melting of said materials at said interface.

A method for welding transparent materials, comprising:

• directing a beam of ultrashort laser pulses to near an interface between said materials;
• and optically controlling formation and spatial position of one or more areas of high intensity within a body of said materials, to induce melting of said materials only within said zone or zones.