Ablation of polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) with femtosecond UV excimer laser pulses

Experiments on the ablation of undoped polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) with 300 fs UV excimer laser pulses at 248 nm are reported for the first time. In contrast to standard excimer laser pulses, these ultrashort pulses ablate Teflon with good edge quality and no signs of thermal damage for fluences down to 0.5 J/cm2 with removal rates on the order of 1 μm per pulse.