Single-shot and Percussion Drilling

Single-shot drilling (left) and percussion drilling (right)

In the simplest case, a single laser pulse with comparatively high pulse energy is used to produced the hole. This method enables a large number of holes to be created in an extremely short amount of time. In percussion drilling, the hole is produced using multiple short-duration, low-energy laser pulses. This technique produces deeper, more precise holes than single-shot drilling and also enables smaller hole diameters.