Abstract: An apparatus for directing a laser beam to a workpiece surface includes a housing having a laser beam exit aperture. The apparatus further includes an output optical device configured to emit a converging laser beam. The converging laser beam is centered on an axis and is directed outward from the housing through the exit aperture toward a workpiece surface. A water nozzle outlet is arranged to discharge a stream of overlay water toward the workpiece surface. An air nozzle outlet is arranged to discharge a stream of air in a direction transverse to the axis at a location axially between the water nozzle and the exit aperture.

Abstract: An apparatus is provided, the apparatus comprising: (i) a diode-pumped solid-state laser oscillator configured to generate a pulsed laser beam having predefined beam characteristics corresponding to a current setting selection of a controller; and (ii) an amplifier configured to amplify an energy and modify a beam profile of the pulse laser beam. A beam detector is coupled to the generated beam to monitor a combination of: (i) a beam pulse width; (ii) a beam diameter; and (iii) an energy level, and generates an error signal to be sent back as a feedback signal to the controller. The controller configures the current source to output a correction current to tune the DPSSL oscillator, the wave plate, and the first polarizer to rotate a correction polarization angle and adjust the energy amplification or temporal profile to within a defined performance tolerance.