Laser Treatment of Quartz Crystal Blanks for the Modification of Properties of Resonators

It is known that quartz crystal blanks have to go through many procedures of mechanical processing for the exact configuration to ensure precise geometry for expected performance. Some procedures involving mechanical processing are widely used for the shaping and reduction in sizes could be done with laser beams to satisfy the objectives. Given the fact laser beams can be speedy and cleaner in the process, it is imaginable that some mechanical processing procedures can be replaced by laser radiation or other energy methods at a lower cost. To this goal, we use laser with different strengths and durations to scan the selected surface areas of blanks of quartz crystal to change the property of exposed portions with noticeable changes. After validation of the laser processing, we started scanning quartz crystal blanks of resonators for improvements. The experiments showed that with properly designed radiation pattern and areas, we should be able to use the laser treatment as part of the manufacturing process to innovate the existing process and products.