Outline

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1. Summary

a. A femtosecond laser beam can be used for ablation based material removal and welding of different materials
b. A BPM was constructed to model the propagation of a laser beam and the interaction of the beam with different optical substrates

2. Uses of laser for material removal in optical finishing, welding for creation of photonics devices

a. High intensity of femtosecond laser can cause nonlinear optical effects which can be utilized for these purposes

3. Diagram and explanation of setup for experiment showing laser and sample (silicon)
4. Model of Gaussian (picture), radially symmetric

a. Beam propagates as a Gaussian, radius and intensity change over distance

5. Mathematical description of beam propagation, description of changing variables
6. MATLAB was used to create matrix representation of grid (spatial) where the intensity of the beam is calculated at each point, initially in air
7. Beam parameters are used in equation to create a simulation of beam propagation in different materials using MATLAB

a. Parameters include wavelength of light, focus distance, and minimum beam size
b. Matrix is used to transform beam parameters when laser passes through a lens or optical substrate

8. MATLAB can also be used to model nonlinear effects such as self-focusing which can be used in welding of materials
9. Summary of results of simulations
10. Experimental data collected and comparison to simulation (if completed before end of internship?)
11. Conclusion: restate summary