Laser hold drilling system with lens and two wedge prisms including axial displacement of at least one prism

An optical system for directing a laser beam on a workpiece in a predetermined manner comprising:

• first and second wedge prisms spaced at first and second prism positions along a first axis for serially deflecting said laser beam and having first and second azimuthal orientations, respectively;
• means for rotating said second wedge prism to a predetermined angular position about a second prism axis parallel to said first axis, thereby defining a relative angular position of said first and second wedge prisms;
• a lens, having a focal length and positioned at a predetermined focusing means distance along said first axis, for intercepting said laser beam at an interception distance from said first axis that depends on said relative angular position, and at a predetermined interception angle relative to said first axis after said laser beam has been deflected by said first and second wedge prisms and focusing said laser beam to a predetermined focal position, characterized in that:
• at least one of said first and second prisms is connected to displacement means for displacing said prism parallel to said first axis, whereby at least one of said first and second prism positions may be varied with respect to the other of said first and second prism positions to define a relative prism displacement along said first axis, so that said interception distance may be varied by variation of said relative prism displacement as well as by variation of said relative angular position.