Laser surface texturing of glass with high-power picosecond laser for the control of optical properties

The use of direct laser writing to manipulate the optical properties is an industrially appealing approach due to the high degree of geometrical flexibility provided by the approach. The recent introduction of high-power ultrafast laser sources renders this approach more productive with implications to move towards processing larger areas and faster processing times. The use of ps-long near infrared (NIR) pulses with high peak powers enables the processing of glass at the surface providing textures to manipulate the transparency and the refraction behaviour. This work proposes a systematic study to first define the feasibility window for surface processing of soda-lime glass with a high power ps-pulsed NIR laser, then generate different surface textures to vary the transmissivity and diffraction behaviour. The work shows the link between the inscribed texture, the surface roughness, and the different optical behaviours from diffractive to diffusive in the explored experimental conditions. The results show that the high power ps-pulsed lasers can effectively be used at several m/s scan speed levels to directly produce light diffusers or refractive optical elements.