Laser marking on soda-lime glass by laser-induced backside wet etching with two-beam interference

For crack-free marking of glass materials, a beam-scanning laser-induced backside wet etching (LIBWE) process by a beam spot with a fine periodic structure was examined. The fine periodic structure was produced within a beam spot by means of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer incorporated to the optical setup for the beam-scanning LIBWE. A fine structure with a period of 9 µ m was observed within the microstructures with a diameter of ca. 40 µ m fabricated by a laser shot under double-beam irradiation, and they could be homogeneously fabricated within an area of 800  ×  800 µ m. The area filled with the microstructures, including fine periodic structures, could be observed in high contrast under a diffuse, on-axis illumination that was used in commercial QR code readers. (paper)