Anomalous enhancement of drilling rate in carbon fiber reinforced plastic using azimuthally polarized CO₂laser

Abstract

We developed an azimuthally polarized pulse-periodic CO 2 laser for high-performance drilling applications. We discovered an anomalous enhancement in the drilling rate with the azimuthally polarized beam compared to that with radially or randomly polarized beams. We drilled 0.45 mm-thick carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) using a focusing lens with a focal length of 50 mm and a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.09. The conditions other than polarization states were identical for all the experiments. The azimuthally polarized beam exhibited a drilling rate more than 10 times greater on average than those of the other two polarizations.