Multibeam Healing for Laser Micromachining in Manufacturing

描述(由申请人提供)：人们对医学成像技术的新的和创新的制造方法非常感兴趣，以在降低成本的同时提高性能。激光的精度和低力特征使其成为脆性材料传统加工方法的极具吸引力的替代方法，特别是用于高分辨率诊断成像和核医学的闪烁体，如氧化硅酸锶(LSO)、氧化硅酸镓(GSO)、氧化硅酸锶(LYO)等。然而，激光加工过程中的材料损伤，特别是微裂纹是一个经常遇到的问题，它会导致成本增加、不必要的报废和性能/可靠性的降低。这些问题阻碍了激光加工的巨大商业潜力被充分利用来制造大型和精细像素化的闪烁体阵列。第一阶段研究的目标是证明使用一种新的多光束方法对脆性闪烁体进行无缺陷激光加工的可行性。我们很高兴地报告，第一阶段的研究不仅清楚地证明了我们方法的可行性，而且还导致了一项重大发现，有可能大幅降低像素化的成本和持续时间。因此，我们的第一阶段工作为实现我们的最终目标--使用激光加工无缺陷制造闪烁体阵列奠定了坚实的基础。有了这些特殊的结果，激光像素化和多光束治疗技术现在可以在快速和经济高效的系统中开发，用于对医疗和非医疗应用至关重要的闪烁体中各种大小、形状和方向的微加工阵列。拟议的研究旨在通过对材料在激光烧蚀过程中的行为进行详细的模拟研究，并根据证实模拟结果的实验结果实施新的激光传输系统，来解决制造问题。开发这样的系统和闪烁体微加工方面的知识体系将允许以显著降低的制造成本制造各种闪烁体的大阵列，同时通过减小像素尺寸和像素间间隙来显著提高探测器的性能。因此，建议的研究具有很大的商业意义，特别是对于像PET这样的模式，更高的分辨率和更低的成本至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is considerable interest in new and innovative manufacturing methods for medical imaging technologies to enhance performance while reducing cost. The precision and low-force signature of lasers makes them very attractive alternatives to traditional machining methods for brittle materials, particularly scintillators such as lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO), gadolinium oxyorthosilciate (GSO), lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO), etc. used in high-resolution diagnostic imaging and nuclear medicine. However, material damage, especially micro-scale cracking, during laser machining is a frequently encountered problem that results in added costs, needless scrap, and reduced performance/reliability. These issues have prevented the tremendous commercial potential of laser machining from being fully utilized to manufacture large and finely pixelated scintillator arrays. The goal of the Phase I research was to demonstrate the feasibility of defect free laser machining of brittle scintillators using a novel multibeam approach. We are pleased to report that the Phase I research has not only clearly demonstrated the feasibility of our approach but has also led to a major discovery that has the potential to dramatically reduce the cost and duration of pixelation. Thus our Phase I effort has laid a firm foundation for achieving our ultimate goal of defect-free manufacturing of scintillator arrays using laser machining. With these exceptional results, the technique of laser pixelation and multibeam healing is now poised for exploitation in rapid and cost effective systems for micro-machining arrays of various sizes, shapes, and orientations in scintillators of critical importance to medical and non-medical applications. The proposed research is designed to address manufacturing issues through detailed simulation studies of the material's behavior during laser ablation, and by implementing a new laser beam delivery system based on experimental findings that confirm the simulation results. Developing such a system and a body of knowledge in scintillator micro-machining will allow fabricating large arrays of various scintillators at significantly reduced manufacturing cost, while greatly improving detector performance with reduced pixel sizes and inter-pixel gaps. Therefore, the proposed research has great commercial relevance, especially for modalities as PET where higher resolution and lower cost is critically important.