Fast fabrication of diffractive patterns on glass by excimer laser ablation

•High resolution excimer laser ablation well-suited for diffractive marking of glass.•Diffractive marks consist of colorful opalescent µm line patterns.•Efficient phase mask imaging for fast grating ablation.•Multi pulse on the fly marking by synchronization of laser trigger and stock feed.•Process compatible with contour mask technique. ArF excimer laser ablation is used for the periodic patterning of glass surfaces. Projection of phase gratings provides the parallel generation of high resolution line patterns with structure periods in the µm-range. A fast and efficient process is possible, if laser pulse repetition and work piece motion are synchronized, so that multiple pulses can be applied to each work piece position, while continuously moving the work piece. A writing speed of 0.1 cm2/s is demonstrated and the scalability to 1 cm2/s is presented. Sub-micron periods are obtained by using Schwarzschild objectives. The process is applied for high contrast diffractive marking of glass.